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Chapters 7,9,10
Amazon does a great job of what
Utilizing Enterprise IS
Order to Cash Processes
A type of core business process. The processes that occur from when you place an order till the moment your card gets charged. Can take moments to months depending on the type of transaction.
You order from Amazon, enter your shipping and billing info. Then on amazon’s side they verify your card information and the transaction goes through. What is this an example of?
Order-to-cash
Procure-to-pay process
A type of core business process. The motions a business goes through to get a product from their supplier.
Make-to-stock process
A type of core business process. The process of producing and storing goods to meet forecasted demand
Make-to-order process
Manufacturing doesn’t start until an order is received. However raw materials, subcomponents, and accessories that are needed to make the final product are kept on hand
Ordering a unique jewelry piece on preorder is an example of what
Make-to-order process
Ordering an Alexa for your house, where Amazon already has it on hand is an example of what
Make-to-stock process
Value chain
The set of business activities that add value to the end product
Core Activities
Activities within a value chain that process inputs to outputs
Inbound logistics, operations and manufacturing, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and customer service are all examples of what
Core Activities
Inbound Logistics / Supply Chain Management
Activities that are associated with the process of keeping raw materials in stock
Operations and Manufacturing Activities
Activities that transform the input to the output
Outbound Logistics
Activities that help with the distribution of finished products, within the order-to-cash business process
Marketing and Sales Activities
Associated primarily with the presales. Include creation and communication with potential and existing customers
Customer Service Activities
Focuses on post sale activities, helping the customer or giving them information on their product
Support Activities
Enable primary activities to take place
Administrative activities, infrastructure, human resources, technology development, and procurement are all examples of what
Support Activities
Administrative Activities
Processes and decision making that orchestrate the day-to-day operations
Infrastructure Activities
The upkeep activities for buildings, machinery, and IS infrastructure
Human Resource Activities
Activities associated with employee management
Technology Development Activities
Design and development of apps that support primary business activities
Procurement activites
Purchasing of good and services that are required inputs for primary activities
Value system
Information flows from one company’s value chain to another company’s value chain. Used to streamline an orgs internal value chain
Supply chain can be viewed as a river… why?
Physical goods “flow” from a source to an ultimate destination.
Upstream information flow
Receiving another company’s info for your company to use
Downstream Information flow
Sending your company's info to another company
Standalone applications
Systems that focus on the specific needs of their department and are not used to transfer information among departments
Legacy systems
An old system that is outdated, but still used for some reason within a business
When Flash Games like those on Cool Math Games were no longer available. Flash games became considered…
legacy systems
Your calculator on your laptop is able to compute information you put into it, but it can’t transfer its output to any other application. This is an example of what?
Standalone application
Best-of-breed approach
Keeping the ‘best’ of systems to use for business processes, but they act independently and cannot necessarily share that information amongst departments
Enterprise-wide IS (Enterprise system)
Integrated suite of business applications for virtually every business process. All of the company’s data has a central repository
What is a top priority of Enterprise systems
Meeting the business, customer, and supplier needs seamlessly
Internally focused systems
System that supports functional areas, business processes, and decision making within the organization.
Externally focused systems
Streamline communications and coordinate business processes with customers, suppliers, business partners, and others who operate outside of an orgs boundaries
Interorganizational systems
Streamline the flow of info from a company to another company
Packaged software
Off-the-shelf software, written by 3rd party vendors for the organization
Why use packaged software…why not?
Cost effective, don’t have to worry about building it. But, the company doesn’t have a lot of involvement on how its made or will operate
Custom software
Developed and designed by and for the company that will use it
Why use Custom software…why not?
Can be more specific for an organization, meets niche needs & be customizable. But, quite costly and takes time to develop
Modules
Since not every packaged software can meet every need, this allows a business to add what they deem necessary for their enterprise IS. Meant to help replace legacy systems
Vanilla version
Default enterprise system, not customized for the business
Customization
Additional software that can be added to a vanilla version of an ES
A business just purchased an ES, they look at the ES and realize they need to add things for some of their departments. What will they do?
Customize the ES, adding modules that will connect different functional areas
Best Practices or Industry-standard business processes
Enterprise systems that are specifically designed for an industry, tailors the ES a bit and makes it more applicable to that business
Salon IQ, an ES for salons to be able to see bookings, clock workers in, view wait times of other stores, see sales for the day, etc. Is an example of what
Best Practices software
Business Process Management (BPM)
Systematic, structured improvement approach by all or part of an organization whereby people critically examine, rethink, and redesign business processes to achieve improvements in different performance measures
Business process reengineering (BRM)
Legacy term for Business Process Management (BPM), introduced in the 90s
Increase in: availability of info, interaction throughout the org, lead times for manufacturing, customer interaction, supplier integration, and compliance with standards
Reduce: Operating expenses, inventory, IS costs.
What is the above describing?
Benefits of an enterprise system
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Replace standalone apps to connect various modules on a common database to service the entire enterprise rather than portions of it
ERP can help with
Providing employees with relevant, up-to-date info, respond to compliance and regulatory demands
ERP control
Locus of control over the computing systems and data contained is the system and decision-making authority
ERP Core Components
Modules in an ERP that are internally focused for the company. Includes financial, operations, and hr management
ERP Extended Components
Modules in an ERP that are externally focused for the company. Includes customer relationship and supply chain management
Configuration of ERP
Activity that is underestimated when installing ERP, this is when the org makes changes to their ERP making sure it will fit the business needs
Limitation of ERP
Once implemented, a company is ‘locked in’ which can limit the orgs flexibility and agility if the ERP was modified without considering future needs. Its not uncommon for them to fail if done poorly
Why does ES implementations fail?
Top-management sucks and doesn’t give enough attention to the importance of it. Or after its done, business processes don’t change to effectively meet best practices
How to circumvent ERP issues?
Secure executive sponsorship, get outside help from experts, thoroughly train users, get multidisciplinary opinions of what the ES needs, and stay up to date with ERP trends
Making the business case
Process of identifying, quantifying, and presenting added value of a proposed implementation to a business
Why is making a proper business case important
People want to know that their money is not going to be wasted on an investment or continued investment in something they currently have.
Productivity paradox
Observation that productivity has increased, but at a lower rate than what would be expected with introduction of technology into the workforce
Your business has introduced a new IS system, however the team is finding it difficult to manage the new system & measure the benefits given all the new features. Sometimes the system also lags and since it was a big investment, financial resources have to be reallocated. What are all these factors a part of?
Productivity Paradox
Your office has made a complete switch to using computers for work, although it has increased overall performance, it’s nowhere near where it was forecasted to be. Workers are browsing the web instead of doing work. What is this?
Cyberloafing
Faith Arguments
Based on beliefs about org strategy, competitive advantage, industry forces, customer perceptions, market share, etc.
I know right now the metrics aren’t promising, but if we run this ad campaign I have a strong feeling it will boost sales. What type of argument is this?
Faith
Fear Argument
Based on the notion that failure will result if something isn’t implemented or changed. Often based on worst case scenarios
How can we expect to keep up without a mobile app? Without this we will loose any edge we had. What type of argument is this?
Fear
Fact Argument
Based on data, quantitative analysis, or things that cannot be proven wrong
As you can see, from other business’s implementing the system within the same industry they saw a 20% increase in website traffic and 10% increase in sales, so we should consider doing the same. What type of argument is this
Fact
What components are needed to make a successful business case
Encompass faith, fear, and fact
Total cost of ownership
Cost of acquiring, owning, operating, and maintaining a system.
Non-recurring costs
One-time costs, included in the total cost of ownership
Recurring costs
Costs that are ongoing throughout the lifecycle of a system
Paying a 1,000 one-time non-refundable deposit for a system is what?
Non-recurring cost
The new software your company bought has a subscription that is to be paid at the end of every month. What is this in terms of cost
Recurring cost
Capital expendicture
Usually a really high cost for a long-term asset to either acquire or improve it
Your company needs a new office space that’s going to cost a lot of money. What is this
Capital expendicture
Non capital expenditure or Operational expenditure
Money that’s spent on repairs, supplies, payroll, and other day-to-day expenses
As the HR payroll specialist, you have to submit work hours of each worker and the costs frequently. What type of expenditure is this?
Non-capital expenditure
Tangible costs
Easy to quantify
Intangible costs
Costs that can’t fit well into quantitative analysis, they can be estimated but may not be entirely accurate
The restaurant you work for recently switched to an all online menu. Although the switch has been relatively smooth, your company didn’t consider the elderly clientele you would loose. What type of cost is this?
Intangible cost
After discussing all the features your company wants for the new website, the web developer tells you the initial investment will be 300, based on the facets you want the website to have. What type of cost is this
Tangible costs
Tangible benefits
Quantifiable benefit of using a system or tech
Intangible benefits
Difficult to quantify benefits of using a system or tech
After your website launched, your clientele base has increased by 20%, what type of benefit is this
Tangible benefit
Your company makes some changes to the layout of the store, you hear customers say that they enjoy this new store layout better than prior. Customer satisfaction has increased, but at the moment you don’t know by how much. What type of benefit is this
Intangible benefit
Cost-benefit analysis
Contrasting the tangible costs with the tangible benefits of an investment
Break even analysis
Identifying when tangible costs equal tangible benefits.
Net-present-value analysis
a type of cost-benefit analysis that looks at the cash flows resulted from an investment
Discount rate
Rate of return used by an org to compute the present value of future cash flows
Weighted multicriteria analysis
Helps with deciding costs and benefits of different systems, better way to measure the importance of requirements and constraints
Total Economic Impact (TEI)
Developed by Forrester, considers the impact of IT, impact on the biz, and future possibilities made from it. Also considers risks & scalability
Who should be considered when making an effective business case?
Management, steering committee (ppl from different interest groups), user department (ppl that will actually use the new system), IS executive (ppl that are going to deal with the system in all stages)
Proxy variables
Alternative measures of outcomes (isn’t in money terms)
Proposed changes are being discussed within your firm, but not everyone is onboard. So, your company has everyone vote anonymously. What type of measurement is this
Proxy variables
“hot button” issues
Things senior management is going to care immensely about and should be brought up when making a case
Systems analysis and design
Process of designing, building, and maintaining IS
Systems analyst
The person that does the systems analysis and design activities
Note 
Flashcard (20)