IT FOR MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TOPICS
Challenges for business today.

PAGE NO
02

Change in organizational workplace due to digitization.

02

Meaning and difference between E-Commerce & E-Business.

Types of E-Business markets

04

The illustration of E-business model

06

Short Notes on ERP, CRM, SCM, E-Procurement, E-Learning.

07

Short Note on Database Technology, and how it helps managers in

Decision Making.

10

Discuss Data Warehouse, Data Mining, Business Intelligence, Big

Data.

10

What is Data Modelling, explain with an example?

13

Flipkart-Big Billion Sale.

17

Technology Advancement and Job Market

18

Q1. What are the challenges for business today? How is Information Technology becoming an
enabler for business and organizations, discuss with an example of technology enabled
business / start up.

ANS: We live in rapidly changing times, especially for businesses. In a single generation, businesses
have had to adapt to entirely new marketing channels (web and social), decide how to invest in and
utilize new technologies, and compete on a global. Just a few of the challenges businesses facing
are:

Uncertainty about the future: Being able to predict customer trends, market trends, etc. is vital to
a changing economic climate.

Financial management: Many CEOs are ideas people; that means theyre great at the big picture
and disruptive thinking, but less good with things like cash flow, profit margins, reducing costs,
financing, etc. Small and medium businesses may not require a full-time CFO, but would do better to
employ a financial consultant who can step into the role as needed.

Monitoring performance: Using a meaningful set of rounded performance indicators that provide
the business with insights about how well it is performing is key. Most business people are not experts
in how to avoid the key pitfalls and how to best communicate metrics so that they inform decisionmaking.

Competencies and recruiting the right talent: A small or medium-sized business might not
need full-time human resources or recruiting staff, but during peak growth periods, finding the right
people and developing the right skills and competencies is the key to a sustainable future.

Technology: As technologies change practically at the speed of light, its vital for companies to
innovate or be left behind. It is important to integrate new technologies, mobile, app development, and
cloud computing.

Exploding data: Managing, keeping safe and extracting insights from the ever-increasing amounts
of data company produces needs to be handled to get maximum return.

Customer service: In a world of instant gratification, customers expect instant customer service
and can take to the web to share their displeasure at less than satisfactory service just as quickly.
Maintaining reputation: In a similar vein, because customers can voice any displeasure so much more
publicly and loudly than ever before, businesses have to monitor and maintain their online reputations.

Role of IT as an enabler for business and organizations:

i.

Information technology has given business the tools to solve complex Problems-Improved
hardware (more memory, faster processors, sharper visual displays, etc.) combined with smarter
applications (Mind mapping software like X Mind, collaborative software like Kanban boards,
organizers like Google calendar, etc.) have made it easier to research data, analyse it, and plan
scalability. Many tools available to solve complex problems.

ii.

Information technology allows businesses to make better Decisions-Good decisions in business

are based on solid market research. This can be done through engaging teams through video
conferences, reviewing public sentiment on social media and industry forums, and using online
surveys to get customer feedback. There are also tools like Microsoft CRM Dynamics and Google
Analytics.

iii.

Information technology has improved marketing-Internet marketing using online advertising

methods (SEO, PPC, and Facebook Ads) are far more accurate ways than traditional marketing
of finding target audiences, discovering their needs, and building a marketing campaign to

persuade them to buy. Its difficult to see how many people read a newspaper ad. Its easy to
figure out how many people clicked on an online banner.
iv.

Information technology has improved customer Support-Customers can receive support from
multiple channels telephone, emails, social media platforms, webinars, and so on. Additionally,
customer relationship management systems help businesses understand customer behaviour.

v.

Information technology has improved resource Management-Cloud computing allows a

companys employees to use any device anywhere in the world to access their enterprise level
software.

Q2. How has the organizational workplace changed due to digitization?

ANS: In the workforce, the most striking digitization trend is the bagel effect. Its a hollowing-out of
traditional structures caused by trends like automation of manual work and more organizations taking
advantage of the power of networks. It happens when traditional middle management roles are
outsourced to customers, vendors, and programs or to clever apps via the Cloud.
With Uber, for example, theres no need for fleet managers or taxi controllers these jobs are now
done, respectively, by drivers themselves and by software. Inventory management is unnecessary
when huge retailers like Alibaba dont hold any inventory. Journalism becomes less necessary when
bloggers and even bots willingly write content, 24/7.
Where it hits, the bagel effect tends to create two classes of jobs: cognitive and manual. From a
workforce perspective, this drives a need for highly skilled talent and new roles at one extreme, and a
way of motivating and managing a large low-wage workforce at the other.
Digitization also reduces cycle times in business, meaning decisions must be made faster. Traditional
command-and-control hierarchies lack the agility to think this fast or take direct action quickly enough
reorganizing people can be a large and slow decision in many companies, which isnt enough to
respond to rapidly arriving threats and opportunities. Its one of the reasons that these traditional
structures are struggling against new, networked players. Banking and retail are reeling.

Emerging technologies can be used for physical/digital channel integration

Location based services

QR coding
Augmented reality
Electronic paper

Today due to digitization all knowledge has become very accessible especially due to the free open
access repositories that are made available. Managed Outsource Solutions (MOS) is an Oklahoma
based data entry and BPO services provider that offers a wide range of services like digitization, data
entry, data processing, data conversion data capture, OCR, ICR, data mining, web extraction,
knowledge discovery and data cleaning services for clients globally and specifically in the US, Canada
the UK and Australia.
Improved business processes
Managing your agencys information digitally allows you to maximise the value of this asset. Access to
well-managed, trusted and accessible digital information is a valuable resource for staff over time.
Access, retrieval and information sharing

Well-managed digital information enables faster access to and better control over records that support
your agencys business. Benefits include:

the ability to locate and retrieve information in a fraction of the time required for paper
documents

the ability to save once and then share documents easily with colleagues anywhere,
encouraging and facilitating new approaches to work

avoiding reinventing the wheel, that is, easy access to past work that can be re-used to
support current tasks

reduced duplication of time and effort in our 2010 survey Records management practices
and arrangements in Australian Government agencies, agencies reported that approximately
40 per cent of the records they store in digital format were duplicated in physical format

Informed decision making

Digital information and records management supports faster evidence-based decision making. Ready
access to information helps staff make the right decisions at the right time. Well managed digital
information supports corporate memory and helps staff understand past decisions, processes and
activities.
Improved service delivery
Workflows and processes benefit from better access to and faster retrieval of information. Service
delivery improves when staff can quickly locate the right information when it is needed.
Well-managed digital information means business information is available and usable now and in the
future. Assured continuing information access is vital to continuous improvement of services, outputs
and operational effectiveness.

Benefits of digital information and records management

The government requires all agencies to move to digital records management. This will provide
several efficiency and other benefits including improved corporate governance, improved business
processes and reduced costs.

Information is a key corporate asset and needs to be managed well to realise its greatest value.
Digital management is the most efficient and effective way to achieve this.

Your agency has a legal obligation to manage its records and must be able to account for its
actions and expenditure of resources appropriated by the government on behalf of the community.

Almost all information is created digitally. It makes good business sense to also store and manage
the information digitally.

Digital management of records will enable your agency to make the best use of new technologies
and innovative ways of doing business.

It will enable your agency to implement the governments information reforms more efficiently and
effectiveness.

Improved business processes through faster access to and retrieval of information.

Better-informed decision-making through quicker access to all the right information.

Better service delivery because relevant information can be located easily.

Less staff time spent looking for information. There are fewer information silos.

More information sharing across the agency and between agencies, and potential for re-use of
information by government and the Australian community.

Lower compliance costs and enhanced ability to provide accurate, timely and transparent
responses to legislative and regulatory requirements.

Mitigation of business and reputational risk and improved business continuity.

Q3. Explain what you understand by e-business and e-commerce and the differences in both.
Discuss the various types of e-business markets.
ANS: E-commerce is buying and selling using an electronic medium. It is accepting credit and
payments over the net, doing banking transactions using the Internet, selling commodities or
information using the World Wide Web and so on.
E-Business in addition to encompassing E-commerce includes both front and back-office applications
that form the engine for modern E-commerce. E-business is not just about E-commerce transactions;
it's about re-defining old business models, with the aid of technology to maximize customer value. EBusiness is the overall strategy and E-commerce is an extremely important facet of E-Business.

Various types of e-business markets are:

Business-to-Administration (B2A) - Business to anyone (B2A) is a sarcastic take on the

conventional business-to classification system, which includes business to business and
business to consumer. A business-to-anyone company tends to be one that's in dire straits and
is therefore willing to work with anyone. B2A is likely too broad as a business strategy. B2A is
also called business to everybody (B2E).

Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)- he Consumer-to-Administration model encompasses all

electronic transactions conducted between individuals and public administration.

Q4. Explain the e-business model illustrated in Figure 1.

ANS: Suppose we have this company named as ABC. It has various support departments such as
Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Management, Legal and IT for performing services related to
financial matters, servers, laws and regulation policies, recruitment, training, sales, production,
management, purchasing of raw materials, selling output, fixing prices, salaries & wages etc.

Now, the company uses Enterprise resource planning (ERP), a category of business-management
softwareand a suite of integrated applicationsthat is used to collect, store, manage and interpret
data from business activities, including: product planning, purchase, manufacturing or service
delivery.

It has three types of customers i.e. Industry, Government and Business.

Company uses CRM software which consolidates customer information and documents into a single
CRM database so business users can more easily access and manage it. The other main functions of
this software include recording various customer interactions (over email, phone calls, social media or
other channels, depending on system capabilities.
Looking to incorporate a training program, e-learning offers numerous advantages when compared
to face-to-face or classroom learning. Advancement and efficiency are extremely important to
businesses today, and ABC is turning to save money, time, and energy. Heres a breakdown of some
of the main benefits ABC Company can gain from implementing an online training platform.
As customers place the order from the company and company follows laws and policies made by the
government while shipping and delivery of goods.
In this process, b2c model is followed where transactions are conducted directly between a company
and consumers who are the end-users of its products or services and b2b model, which refers to
commerce between two or more businesses.
These both (customers and company) interacts at the e-market platform and web selling takes place
between them.
Various partners and assets of the company are its employees, stakeholders and online communities.
E-leanings programs are accessed to them.
Company uses Enterprise risk management (ERM or E.R.M.) which includes the methods and
processes used by company to manage risks and seize opportunities related to the achievement of
their objectives. ERM provides a framework for management, it typically involves identifying events or
circumstances relevant to the companys objectives (risks and opportunities), assessing them in terms
of likelihood and magnitude of impact, determining a response strategy, and monitoring progress. By
identifying and proactively addressing risks and opportunities, business enterprises protect and create
value for their stakeholders, including owners, employees, customers, regulators, and society overall.

E-market intermediaries are suppliers, distributor, and government with the company.
E-procurement (electronic procurement, also known as supplier exchange) is the business-tobusiness or business-to-consumer or business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies, work,
and services through the Internet as well as other information and networking systems, such as
electronic data interchange.
Partner relationship management (PRM) is a business strategy used by ABC for improving
communication between companies and their channel partners. Web-based PRM software
applications enable ABC to customize and streamline administrative tasks by making shipping
schedules and other real-time information available to all the partners over the Internet.
So, ABC Company works on various Business Models depending on the type of interaction of various
functions.

Q5. Write short notes of the following Information Systems represented in Figure 1.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Supply Chain / SCM (Supply Chain Management)
E-Procurement
e-Learning

For each of these information systems, provide the name of one software providing these
software products. E.g. Salesforce for CRM.
ANS:

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning):

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a process by which a company (often a manufacturer)

manages and integrates the important parts of its business. An ERP management information
system integrates areas such as planning, purchasing, inventory, sales, marketing, finance and
human resources.

ERP is most frequently used in the context of software. As the methodology, has become more
popular, large software applications have been developed to help companies implement ERP.

The ERP software functions like some a central nervous system for a business. It collects
information about the activity and state of different divisions of the body corporate and makes this
information available to other parts where it can be used productively. Information on the ERP is
added in real time by users. Any authorized user with a valid password and access to the network
can access the system any time.

ERP resembles the human central nervous system. Its capacity transcends the collective ability of
the individual parts to form what is known as consciousness. It helps a corporation become more
self-aware by linking information about production, finance, distribution and human resources.
ERP connects different technologies used by each individual part of a business, eliminating
duplicate and incompatible technology that is costly to the corporation. This involves integrating
accounts payable, stock-control systems, order-monitoring systems and customer databases into
one system.

Some of the most common ERP modules include those for product planning, material purchasing,
inventory control, distribution, accounting, marketing, finance and HR.
Software Metric Stream

CRM (Customer Relationship Management):

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy for managing all your companys
relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers. It helps you stay
connected to them, streamline processes and improve your profitability. More commonly, when
people talk about CRM they are usually referring to a CRM system, a tool which helps with

contact management, sales management, productivity and more.

Customer Relationship Management enables you to focus on your organisations relationships

with individual people whether those are customers, service users, colleagues or suppliers.
CRM is not just for sales. Some of the biggest gains in productivity can come from moving beyond
CRM as a sales and marketing tool and embedding it in your business from HR to customer
services and supply-chain management.
Software- Salesforce for CRM

 Supply Chain / SCM (Supply Chain Management):

Supply chain management (SCM), the management of the flow of goods and services, involves
the movement and storage of raw materials, of work-in-process inventory, and of finished goods
from point of origin to point of consumption. Interconnected or interlinked networks, channels and
node businesses combine in the provision of products and services required by end customers in
a supply chain. Supply-chain management has been defined as the "design, planning, execution,
control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a
competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and
measuring performance globally.

SCM practice draws heavily from the areas of industrial engineering, systems engineering,
operations management, logistics, procurement, information technology, and marketing and
strives for an integrated approach Marketing channels play an important role in supply chain
management.
Software- Freight View for SCM.

E-Procurement:

E-procurement (electronic procurement, sometimes also known as supplier exchange) is the

business-to-business or business-to-consumer or business-to-government purchase and sale of
supplies, work, and services through the Internet as well as other information and networking
systems, such as electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning. The eprocurement value chain consists of indent management, e-Informing, e-Tendering, e-Auctioning,
vendor management, catalogue management, Purchase Order Integration, Order Status, Ship
Notice, e-invoicing, e-payment, and contract management. Indent management is the workflow
involved in the preparation of tenders.

This part of the value chain is optional, with individual procuring departments defining their
indenting process. In works procurement, administrative approval and technical sanction are
obtained in electronic format. In goods procurement, indent generation activity is done online. The
end result of the stage is taken as inputs for issuing the NIT Elements of e-procurement include
request for information, request for proposal, request for quotation, RFx (the previous three
together), and eRFx (software for managing RFx projects).

E-Learning:

For companies looking to incorporate a new training program, e-learning offers numerous
advantages when compared to face-to-face or classroom learning. Advancement and efficiency
are extremely important to businesses today, and many organizations are turning to e-learning to
save money, time, and energy. Heres a breakdown of some of the main benefits a company can
gain from implementing an online training platform.
Cost effective
An online training system reduces many costs that would normally be associated with classroom
training, including travel, learning materials, venue, and catering. Important text packets and
lesson plans can be updated quickly and easily, and since they remain online, can save on

printing costs. In years, past, updating and reproducing learning material would be costly and
timely. Moving the learning experience online helps with both of those concerns.
Improved performance and productivity
People are always looking for opportunities to grow. Online training allows employees to quickly
get up to speed on new processes. One major complaint about older style training methods is that
the time-consuming nature of the programs take away from valuable time that could have been
spent on other work. With Training Management Systems, employees can participate in their
online courses at any time from any location including at home, during down time at work, or
anywhere else they feel is appropriate.
Convenience and flexibility
E-learning means no boundaries. Employees can participate in online courses from anywhere
with an internet connection. This eliminates a lot of energy spent coordinating where and when a
course will take place. Gathering a whole team of employees together in one place is never easy.
E-learning gives both management and employees more flexibility with getting important training
completed just-in-time as requirements change.
Timely feedback
Employees can get real-time feedback during an online training course. Additionally, because
everything is connected online, management can also get up-to-date analysis on how courses are
doing, and track the progress of individual employees. Another bonus for management? No
manual evaluations of course work. If you want to include quizzes in your training, all course
authors need to do is provide the correct answers, and the learning management system can
automate the grading and evaluation.
Software- Adobe.

Q6. Write a short note of Database Technology and how databases are helping managers in
Decision Making.
ANS: A database is an organized collection of data like schemas, tables, queries, reports,
views, and other objects. Database technology provides an INTERNAL Representation (model) of
the EXTERNAL world of interest. Examples are the representation of a particular
date/time/flight/aircraft in airline reservation or of item code/item description/quantity on hand/reorder
level/reorder quantity in a stock control system. The TECHNOLOGY involved is concerned primarily
with maintaining the internal representation consistent with external reality; this involves the results of
extensive R&D over the past 30 years in areas such as user requirements analysis, data modelling,
process modelling, data integrity, concurrency, transactions, file organisation, indexing, rollback and
recovery, persistent programming, object-orientation, logic programming, deductive database
systems, active database systems and in all these (and other) areas there remains much to be done.

Businesses use their databases to:

Keep track of basic transactions

Provide information that will help the company run the business more efficiently

Help managers and employees make better decisions

In a large company, special capabilities and tools are required for analysing vast
quantities of data and for accessing data from multiple systems, such as:

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Data warehouse: a database that stores current and historical data from core operational
transactional systems for use in management analysis, but this data cannot be altered.

Data mart: A subset of a data warehouse in which a summarized or highly focused portion
of the organization's data is placed in a separate database for a specific population of users.

Business intelligence (BI) tools: Data analysis tools used for consolidating, analysing,
and accessing vast stores of data to help in decision making, such as software for database
query and reporting, tools for multidimensional data analysis (online analytical processing),
and data mining.

Q7. Discuss the following in detail

a
b
c
d

Data-warehouse
Datamining
Business intelligence
Big data

ANS:
a) Data Warehouse: Data Warehousing is the process of constructing and using the data
warehouse. The data warehouse is constructed by integrating the data from multiple
heterogeneous sources. This data warehouse supports analytical reporting, structured and/or
ad hoc queries and decision making. Data Warehousing involves data cleaning, data
integration and data consolidations. There are decision support technologies available which
help to utilize the data warehouse. These technologies help the executives to use the
warehouse quickly and effectively. They can gather the data, analyse it and take the
decisions based on the information in the warehouse. The information gathered from the
warehouse can be used in any of the following domains:
Tuning production strategies - The product strategies can be well tuned by repositioning the
products and managing product portfolios by comparing the sales quarterly or yearly.
Customer Analysis - The customer analysis is done by analysing the customer's buying
preferences, buying time, budget cycles etc.
Operations Analysis - Data Warehousing also helps in customer relationship management,
making environmental corrections. The Information also allows us to analyse the business
operations.
Software package: Microsoft SQL Server 2008

b) Data Mining: Data mining can be defined as a tool, helping automatically in the discovery of
the various patterns and the relationships in a data warehouse. With the help of the data
mining, managers are able to find the various relations between the elements of the business
and the find out concepts of the business. Hence, it can be said that data mining extracts
trends and rules from data warehouse helping in the evaluation of the business strategies
ultimately leading to the improvement in the various business operations.
Data mining very commonly is known as the knowledge discovery database and the various
important results that it helps in achieving can be summed up as follows

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a. Discovery of the new associations.

b. Deviation detection.
c. Event clustering.
d. Pattern recognition.
Data Mining is very empirical in nature and should provide real value to the organization by
not only helping in the analysation of the operation but by also helping to learn from the
activity. By this, one is helped at a very wide level during the decision-making processes.
Software package: Weka - open-source software for data mining.

c) Business Intelligence: Business intelligence (BI) represents the tools and systems that play a
key role in the strategic planning process within a corporation. These BI systems allow a
company to gather, store, access and analyse corporate data to aid in decision-making.
Generally, these systems will illustrate business intelligence in the areas of customer
profiling, customer support, market research, market segmentation, product profitability,
statistical analysis, and inventory and distribution analysis to name a few.
Software package: Online analytical processing (OLAP)
d) Big Data: Big Data is a phrase used to mean a massive volume of both structured and
unstructured data that is so large it is difficult to process using traditional database and
software techniques. In most enterprise scenarios, the volume of data is too big or it moves
too fast or it exceeds current processing capacity. Big Data has the potential to help
companies improve operations and make faster, more intelligent decisions. This data, when
captured, formatted, manipulated, stored, and analysed can help a company to gain useful
insight to increase revenues, get or retain customers, and improve operations.
Software package: HP Big data

Role of Database Technology in Decision-Making :

Business in much of world depends on database technology. For example:
Finance: Banks have calculated that if their database systems were removed it would take
every person in UK working 24 hours per day 7 days per week to process all the financial
transactions manually. The London stock exchange relies on computer systems for recording
buying and selling of stock which happens very quickly and in large quantities. The amount
of money involved in these transactions is enormous.
Transport: The airlines all use online seat reservation systems and have systems for
scheduling aircraft, for building and maintaining timetables, for handling the in-flight catering
and for mechanical servicing of the planes. Similar systems exist for rail, sea and road
transport. They all use database technology extensively.
Utilities: the major utilities (water, electricity, gas) all have generation / distribution systems
based on database technology.

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Resources: The mineral exploration / extraction companies and governments who regulate
them (especially for oil exploration / extraction) have extensive databases which have
complex data structures (usually including GIS (geographical information system)
components.
Production engineering: from scheduling workflow through the production lines of machines
to stock control and order processing, database technology underpins all activity in this area.
Environment: protection and control of the environment by government agencies depends
heavily on database systems with GIS facilities, together with databases of toxic substances
and clean-up recommendations.
Tourism: hotel systems and local tourist attractions information and booking facilities rely on
database systems, and the major package tour operators have extensive databases for
holiday planning and booking, together with financial systems for payment and invoicing.
Leisure: the entertainment industry uses database systems extensively for theatre, concert
and cinema ticket bookings.
Culture: museums, art galleries, history exhibitions -all utilise database technology (and
especially multimedia database technology) for cataloguing their collections and recording
access to them.
Education: courses, materials, and assessment all rely heavily on database technology in all
sectors of education. Increasingly the linking of database technology with hypermedia
delivery systems allows courseware to be maintained up-to-date and delivered to the
consumer.
Healthcare: primary healthcare has long relied on database technology to schedule hospital
beds or appointments at clinics. The patient health record has been the subject of intensive
study (and R&D resources) over many years because of its complexity of structure, content
and media and because of the security and privacy issues. Epidemiology utilises database
technology to hold and organise key information from many patients to allow statistical
processing to detect trends and to alert medical practitioners to possible epidemics. More
recently, data mining techniques have been applied to this area - relying again on database
technology.
Government administration would be paralysed without database technology; the collection
of taxes and the payment of social security benefits depend totally on database technology.
Retail: the major retail stores utilise database technology in stock control and PoS (Point of
Sale) systems. Modern retailers use advanced data mining techniques to determine trends in
sales and consumer preference to optimise stock control, retail performance, customer
convenience and profit.
The essential point is that database technology is a CORE TECHNOLOGY with links to:
information management / processing
data analysis / statistics
data visualisation / presentation
multimedia and hypermedia
office and document systems
business processes, workflow, CSCW (computer-supported cooperative work)

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Q8. What is Data Modelling? Explain with an example. Define how spreadsheets and features
of excel that benefit in data modelling?
ANS:

Data modelling is the act of exploring data-oriented structures. Like other modelling artefacts data
models can be used for a variety of purposes, from high-level conceptual models to physical data
models. From the point of view of an object-oriented developer data modelling is conceptually like
class modelling. With data modelling, you identify entity types whereas with class modelling you
identify classes. Data attributes are assigned to entity types just as you would assign attributes and
operations to classes. There are associations between entities, like the associations between classes
relationships, inheritance, composition, and aggregation are all applicable concepts in data
modelling.
Traditional data modelling is different from class modelling because it focuses solely on data class
models allow you to explore both the behaviour and data aspects of your domain, with a data model
you can only explore data issues. Because of this focus data modellers tend to be much better at
getting the data right" than object modellers. However, some people will model database methods
(stored procedures, stored functions, and triggers) when they are physical data modelling.

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Example of a music service

the social music service example uses a UUID as a primary key.

Compound keys and clustering

A compound primary key includes the partition key, which determines which node stores the
data, and includes one or more additional columns that can be used to sort data within the
partition.

Collection columns
CQL contains several collection types.

Adding a collection to a table

the music service example includes the capability to tag the songs.

Updating a collection
updating the playlists table to insert the tags data.

Indexing a collection
you can index collections and query the database to find a collection containing a value.

Filtering data in a collection

Different ways to filter a collection.

When to use a collection

Use collections when you want to store or deformalize a small amount of data.

It describes relational tables and columns or object-oriented classes and attributes. Such a
data model is sometimes referred to as the physical data model, but in the original ANSI three
schema architecture, it is called "logical".

Benefits1. Defining the need

Figure A shows two sheets with related data. As you can see, each record in Daily Totals contains a
value that's further described by date, personnel, and city. The records in Sites list the cities in each
region. Now, suppose you want to total the values in Daily Totals by region.

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Figure A

These two sheets contain records that are related.

Working through your data won't always be this easy. I've purposely kept this example simple to keep
the focus on the steps.

2. Convert data to tables

To use Excel's data model, convert the data into tables. When working with your own data, make sure
your data set has a row of headers. Our data sets already have a row of headers. To convert data to a
table, do the following:
1. Click anywhere inside the data set and click the Insert tab.
2. Click Table in the Tables group.
3. In the resulting dialog box, click OK. In this case, the header option is already checked. When
applying this technique to your own data, you'll want to check or uncheck this option,
appropriately.
. Use the above steps to convert both data sets. Naming the new tables isn't necessary, but it will
make working with them easier. To that end, click inside a table and click the contextual Design tab.
Then, enter a meaningful name in the Table Name field. Name them Daily Totals Table and Sites
Table.
3. Finding the related data
There's no regional information in the data set that contains the values you want to summarize. With
data modelling, that's not a problem. All you need is a relationship between the table with the values
you want to summarize and the regional data you'll use to summarize those values. A relationship is a
connection between two tables based on a single column in both. In other words, when two data sets
share a similar column of data, they are related by that common column. In the case of our example,
the City column relates the two data sets.
4. Create the relationship
Creating a relationship between two data sets is new to Excel, but don't let that worry youit's easy.
To create a relationship between the two tables, do the following:

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1. Click the Data tab.

2. Click Relationships in the Data Tools group. (If this option is dimmed, return to #2 and create
the tables.)
3. From the first Table dropdown, choose Daily Totals Table.
4. In the Column (Foreign) dropdown, choose City.
5. In the Related Table dropdown, choose Sites Table.
6. In the Related Column (Primary) dropdown, choose City
7. Click OK.
8. Click Close to return to the sheet.
Generate a blank PivotTable
To summarize the values, we'll generate a PivotTable. Click inside Daily Totals Table and click the
Insert tab. In the Tables group, click PivotTable. When Excel displays the, click OK.
You can use the new Recommended PivotTables option, but it won't consider your second table, so
it's easier to start with a blank table.
6. Add the second table
Currently, the PivotTable frame evaluates only one table, Daily Totals Table. Add Sites Table as
follows:
1. Click the MORE TABLES link shown in Figure F.
2. In the resulting dialog, click yes. Doing so engages the new data modelling feature.

7. Add fields
It's time to start adding fields to the PivotTable. First, click the expand arrow to the left of Daily Totals
Table to see its fields. Check Value and City. Then, use the scroll bar to access Sites Table. Expand
its fields and select Region. Doing so adds these fields to the PivotTable frame.
Thanks to the data modelling feature, you can add fields from both tables to the PivotTable frame.
8. Add regions to summarize
At this point, the PivotTable probably won't be perfect, so it's time to start tweaking a bit. Figure I show
the result of dragging the Region field to the COLUMNS section.
9. A quick switch
If you don't like that layout, you can quickly switch the column and row headings. Simply drag the City
field to the COLUMNS section and the Region field to the ROWS section.

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Q9. Flipkart has redefined 'big' in many ways in the year 2014. With its Big Billion Sale, it was
able to achieve its sales target of $100 million in GMV (Gross Merchandize Value) in a matter of
10 hours only (fixed as 24 hrs initially). Though it faced a lot of back lash on social media for
its technical issues, price changes, out of stock issues and website issues, it is still seen as a
great milestone. The Big Billion Sale in 2014 is termed as a turning point in the history of
ecommerce in India.
a
b

Discuss your opinion on this statement.

eCommerce companies are targeting consumers in their twenties and thirties. Do you
think this is the right segment to target and why?

ANS: a) - As a market leader in the Indian ecommerce industry, Flipkart redefined 'big' in many ways
in the year 2014. Be it the big acquisition of Myntra (for an estimated $300 million), or the
big funding of $1 billion, nothing of this scale was witnessed before. Riding on the same wave,
the ecommerce giant announced the biggest sale day for 6th October 2014. It was called 'The Big
Billion Day' a. On one side (which was slightly heavier), it attracted a lot of backlashes on social
media, while on other, the company claims that it could achieve its sales target of $100 million in GMV
in a matter of 10 hours only (fixed as 24 hrs initially).

Despite all this cannot be termed as a turning point in history of ecommerce in India for many reasons
which are listed below.

The sale kicked off before the announced time stocks were out even when people logged in
at 8am.

Discounts offered on newspaper ads proved misleading.

Servers crashed, HTTP 404 abounded.
Worse, prices fluctuated between MRP, discounted price, and jacked up pre-discount rates.
Out of stock and Sold out were the highlights of the day.
Confirmed orders got cancelled in hours.
Flipkart ended up doing Amazon and Snap deal a great favour.
Yes, according to me it was a turning point in history.
One tweeter summed up customer sentiment aptly, stating among the billion things #Flipkart sold that
day, one was its credibility.
Also Why does a business thats just collected $600 crore sales in a single day have to send
out a letter of apology the very next day? Because the Flipkart sale was a mess from the start!
But more to the point, did Flipkarts apology salve its reputation or appease consumers? No. Did the
7-year-old e-commerce company believe excuses and explanations would help? It just made them
look worse and their competition a lot better.
What Flipkart could have done right?
Without doubt, Flipkart underestimated the traffic the Big Billion Sale would drive by a HUGE margin.
While the e-commerce company went overboard with digital and traditional marketing, it did a bad job
predicting sales. While Indians are no stranger to infrastructure failures, the hardest thing to forgive
will be the order cancellations and disillusionment from misleading discounts.

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ANS b) - Ecommerce companies are targeting consumers in their twenties and thirties and this is the
right practice because:
1. Customer in their twenties and thirties tends to use internet more as compared to customers in
other age groups.
2. People in their twenties and thirties are more aware about e- commerce websites and apps.
Because they are continuously surfing the net.

Q10. Gartner has predicted that one in three jobs will be converted to software, robots and
smart machines by 2025. The technology advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence
has a huge implication for a range of industries such as health care, transport and logistics,
customer service, and home maintenance. Comment on your opinion on the future job market
and jobs that are "at risk" of being replaced. Advice on how one should survive and strive in
this job market in the coming years.
ANS: Jobs that are most at risk are-

Robots could become more prevalent in retail in particular with the industry facing a labour shortage
and growing pressure to pay higher wages.
The number of open retail positions has been growing, while the industry's labour pool has been
shrinking.
Artificial intelligence, 3D printing, resource-efficient sustainable production and robotics will factor into
the ways we currently make, manage and mend products and deliver services. The latter two have

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the potential to create jobs in the architectural and engineering sectors, following high demand for
advanced automated production systems.
When the World Economic Forum surveyed global HR decision-makers, some 44% pointed to new
technologies enabling remote working, co-working space and teleconferencing as the principal driver
of change. Concurrently, advances in mobile and cloud technology allowing remote and instant
access were singled out as the most important technological driver of change, enabling the rapid
spread of internet-based service models.
Its worth reflecting on how we could imagine a changed world like this.
Our future place of work might not be an open plan office, but interconnected workspaces not tied to
one place, but many. They will be underpinned by virtual conferencing, complete and constant
connection and portability.
Our working day will be fundamentally different. Leveraging big data, like real-time traffic information,
could cut journey times, making the school run easier, and the morning commute more manageable.
That is, if you must commute: home-working will no longer be defined as a Friday luxury, but a more
efficient way to work enabled by technology, taking the physical strain from megacities and
regionalising work locations.
Technology underpinning what futurologists have christened The Fourth Industrial Revolution will
enable disruptive business models to decentralise our economies as we move from value systems
based on ownership to ones enabling access. Personally, owned assets, from cars to spare
bedrooms, will expand entrepreneurship, diversifying revenue streams. Its no fluke that within three
years of trading, home-sharing platform Airbnb offers more rooms than some of the biggest hotel
chains.
These disruptive business models will fundamentally reshape how we do business, both individually
and as companies. For example, digitally enabling smallholder farmers can allow them to operate as a
collective, transferring knowledge and sharing vital learnings with each other from proper crop
irrigation technology to water efficiency. Cloud-based analytics hosted on BTs Expedite platform can
assist in radically transforming such supply chains.
Critically, these very technologies might help us unlock the solutions to some of the biggest societal
challenges we currently grapple with. The ICT underpinning these technologies, in consort with the
transformational power of big data, could support smart systems that will help tackle climate
challenges. Connected homes, factories and farms leveraging smart energy management systems
could mean dramatically lower energy use, which would contribute to the decarbonisation of our
economies.
And yet we must be vigilant. Not of technological change; we have the power and innovation to
harness and use its power as we see fit. But of access to the connectivity and opportunity it brings.
What will be decisive is how we equip our children, our students and our colleagues to harness the
power of this technology to transform our world for the better. That means ensuring the ICT skills of
current school leavers are fit for the future. It means providing incentives for lifelong learning as the
pace of technological advancement quickens. And it means reinventing the HR function, equipping it
to continually assess and provide for the training needs of employees.
If we get this right the prize is clear. We have the potential to revolutionise the way we live and work
and do it in a way that avoids the vicissitudes of previous industrial revolutions, creating new
economic opportunities that, even as children, we would not have before imagined.

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Lastly, we must use every tool within our armoury to ensure the current and future generations are not
left behind in the global digital skills race.

THANK YOU!

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