Professional Documents
Culture Documents
D E C I S ION S A N D PR O C E S S ES
V A L U E DR I V EN B US I N E S S
2
CHAPTER
This guide provides a number of classroom activities, videos, and debates to accompany Business Driven
Information Systems Fourth Edition. A few course suggestions:
Create one or two test questions based on the classroom activity to help reward students who attend lectures.
Many professors have found that assigning an activity and then lecturing on the material helps students gain a
deeper understanding of the core MIS concepts as they have already struggled with applying the material to a
real-world situation.
Asking a small group of students to explain their answer to the activity to the entire class after completion
ensures students come to class prepared. I select a different group each activity to explain their answer and
they do not want to look unprepared in front of their fellow classmates. It is a powerful motivator to get my
students reading prior to class. After the activity and student’s presentations then I lecture – keeps my
students engaged and helps to achieve a higher level of learning outcomes as they are constantly tasked with
applying the concepts during class.
Create an Ask the Professor Discussion board that runs the entire course where students can ask course and
content related questions. I typically promise to respond within 24 hours and I always encourage my students
to check the discussion board before sending an email. Many times if one student a questions so do other
students.
**Three Before Me Rule! This is something I have found that saves a great deal of time answering email. I
state the Three Before Me rule in my syllabus. Before a student comes to me with a question they must
provide three sources they used to answer the question themselves. This significantly cuts down on emails as
many times students can find the answer to their questions but it seems easier just to email the professor.
Sources can include the syllabus, the Ask The Professor Q&A Discussion Board, classmates, the textbook,
etc. If I ask the student for the three sources and they do not have them I dock participation points. Works
great on significantly cutting down my emails and helps to prepare my students for the real world!
The core chapter material is covered in detail in the PowerPoint slides. Each slide contains detailed teaching
notes including exercises, class activities, questions, and examples. Please review the PowerPoint slides for
detailed notes on how to teach and enhance the core chapter material.
Decision making and problem solving encompass large-scale, opportunity-oriented, strategically focused solutions.
Students today must posse’s decision-making and problem-solving abilities to compete in the ebusiness world.
Organizations today can no longer use a “cook book” approach to decision making. This chapter focuses on
technology to help make decisions, solve problems, and find new innovative opportunities including:
Transaction processing system
Business Driven Information Systems - Instructor’s Manual Chapter 2 Page 1 of 28
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Learning Outcome 2.1: Explain the importance of decision making for managers at each of the three
primary organization levels along with the associated decision characteristics.
Decision-making skills are essential for all business professionals, at every company level, who make decisions
that run the business. At the operational level, employees develop, control, and maintain core business activities
required to run the day-to-day operations. Operational decisions are considered structured decisions, which arise
in situations where established processes offer potential solutions. Structured decisions are made frequently and
are almost repetitive in nature; they affect short-term business strategies.
At the managerial level, employees are continuously evaluating company operations to hone the firm’s abilities to
identify, adapt to, and leverage change. Managerial decisions cover short- and medium-range plans, schedules,
and budgets along with policies, procedures, and business objectives for the firm. These types of decisions are
considered semistructured decisions; they occur in situations in which a few established processes help to
evaluate potential solutions, but not enough to lead to a definite recommended decision.
At the strategic level, managers develop overall business strategies, goals, and objectives as part of the
company’s strategic plan. They also monitor the strategic performance of the organization and its overall direction
in the political, economic, and competitive business environment. Strategic decisions are highly unstructured
decisions, occurring in situations in which no procedures or rules exist to guide decision makers toward the correct
choice. They are infrequent, extremely important, and typically related to long-term business strategy.
Learning Outcome 2.2: Define critical success factors (CSFs) and key performance indicators (KPIs), and
explain how managers use them to measure the success of MIS projects.
Metrics are measurements that evaluate results to determine whether a project is meeting its goals. Two core
metrics are critical success factors and key performance indicators. CSFs are the crucial steps companies perform
to achieve their goals and objectives and implement their strategies and include creating high-quality products,
retaining competitive advantages, and reducing product costs. KPIs are the quantifiable metrics a company uses
to evaluate progress toward critical success factors. KPIs are far more specific than CSFs; examples include
turnover rates of employees, percentage of help-desk calls answered in the first minute, and number of products
returned.
It is important to understand the relationship between critical success factors and key performance indicators.
CSFs are elements crucial for a business strategy’s success. KPIs measure the progress of CSFs with quantifiable
measurements, and one CSF can have several KPIs. Of course, both categories will vary by company and
industry. Imagine improved graduation rates as a CSF for a college.
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