Unit 1 - MSIS 110

ch 1-3 + appendix a

Antivirus (software)

scans and searches hard drives to prevent, detect, and remove known viruses, adware, and spyware

Artificial (Intelligence)

AI, used to be mostly about expert systems, but used to replicate human thinking in a very narrow focus

stimulates human thinking and behavior, such as the ability to reason and learn

Asynchronous (Communication)

communication such as email in which the message and the response do not occur at the same time 

Authentication

Proving who you are – Fingerprints, UserID & PW.
a method for confirming users’ identities

Clickstream

the exact path a visitor takes through a website, including the pattern of a consumer’s navigation 

Communication

how people interact with each other; synchronous and asynchronous

Cookie

a small file deposited on a hard drive by a website, containing information about customers and their browsing activities 

Managerial Decision

Managerial: concern how the organization should achieve the goals and objectives set by its strategy; the responsibility of mid-level management

Operational Decision

Operational: affect how the firm is run from day to day; they’re the domain of operations managers, who are closest to the customer

Type of Decisions (lvls of structure)

Simple - (structured) based on data that has a defined length, type, and format

Complex - (unstructured) occurs when no procedures or rules exist to guide decision makers towards the correct choice

Medium - (semi-structured) occurs in situations in which a few established processes help to evaluate potential solutions, but not enough to lead to a definite recommended decision

Disruptive (Technology)

a new way of doing things that initially does not meet the needs of existing customers 

Downtime

refers to a perdiod of time when a system is unavailable

Email

electronic mail; an example of asynchronous communication

Encryption

based on public & private keys
scrambles information into an alternative form that requires a key or password to decrypt 

Ethics

principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people

Expert (Systems)

computerized advisory programs that imitate the reasoning processes of experts in solving difficult problems

Firewall

hardware and/or software that guard a private network by analyzing incoming and outgoing information for the correct markings

Gigahertz

number of billions of CPU cycles per second

Hackers

experts in tech who use their knowledge to break into computers and computer networks, either for profit or motivated by the challenge 

Hoaxes

attack computer systems by transmitting a virus hoax with a real virus attached

Information

data processed into a meaningful form

Intellectual (Property)

intangible creative work that is embodied in physical form and includes copyrights, trademarks, and patents

Knowledge

skills, experience, and expertise coupled with information and intelligence that create a person’s intellectual resources

Managerial (Level)

employees are continuously evaluating company operations to hone the firm’s abilities to identify, adapt to, leverage change 

Multitasking

allows more than one piece of software to be used at a time

Niche

when a business focuses on one specific thing

Open (Source)

code is available for modification

Operational (Level)

Employees develop, control, and maintain core business activities required to run the day-to-day operations 

Pirated (Software)

unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted software

Privacy

right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent 

Porter’s Five Forces Model

model for analyzing the competitive forces within the environment in which a company operates to assess the potential for profitability in an industry

(Information) Property

ethical issue that focuses on who owns information about individuals and how information can be sold and exchanged 

Random Access Memory (RAM)

computer’s primary working memory, in which program instructions and data are stored so that they can be accessed directly by the CPU via the processor’s high-speed external data bus 

(Information) Security

a broad term encompassing the protection of information from accidental or intentional misuse by persons inside or outside an organization

Social…

Engineering - Hackers use their social skills to trick people into revealing access credentials or other valuable info

Media - refers to websites that rely on user participation and user-contributed content 

Software

set of instructions the hardware executes to carry out specific tasks

Spam

unsolicited email

Spyware

a special class of adware that collects data about the user and transmits it over the internet without the user’s knowledge or permission

Strategic (Decisions)

Involve higher-level issues concerned with the overall direction of the organization; these decisions define the organization’s overall goals and aspirations for the future 

Supplier (power) 

(one of Porter’s five forces); measures the suppliers’ ability to influence the prices they charge for supplies

Transaction Processing System (TPS)

the basic business system that serves the operational level (analysts) and assists in making structured decisions

Virus

software written with malicious intent to cause annoyance or damage

Worm

malware computer program that spreads itself not only from file to file but also from computer to computer