Business Systems Information

Universitá La Sapienza
01/2023

Core data of information age:

- Data
- Information
- Business Inteligence
- Knowledge
Chapter 1

Management information systems (MIS): planning for development, management, and use of
information technology to help people performs all tasks related to information processing and
management.

1. Data capturing
2. Data storage
3. Data processing
4. Data and information distribution
5. Prediction/forecasting
6. Planning
7. Control

MIS deals with 3 basic elements:

1. People
2. Information
3. Technology

(Synergy) People can use information-based technology tools to:

1. Achieve a competitive advantage - find out costumers preferences, ex.
2. Do things cheaper and faster
3. Increase revenue
4. Innovate new processes - convince more costumers, loyal costumers

MIS Resource:

- Information: Data converted into a meaningful and useful context (particular meaning) - start
using one information and later get a refined information (aggregate data that provides a
meaning - average, lower, higher)

- Data: Raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event or object (particular phenomenon)
Data may become information if you add some further elements

- Business intelligence: information to analyses patterns, trends and relationship for strategic
decision making
Collective information about:
- Costumers
- Competitors
- Partners
- Competitive environment
*Revolution -> more accurate prediction

Quality attributes: Lack of any of the above can clear GIGO (Garbage-in and garbage-out) in a
decision-making process
- Timeliness
- When you need it
- Describing the right time period
- Location
- Form (usable by your or useful for you)
- Validity (credibility)
Information Resource - Organisational Perspective
It must be organized, managed and disseminated efficiently for the information to exhibit quality

Upward flows: describe the current state of the organization based on its daily transactions

Downward flows: strategies, goals and directives that originate at a higher level are passed to
lower levels

* Information granularity: extent of detail within the information. At lower levels, fine granularity
because people need to work with information in great detail. In upper levels, information
becomes coarser because it's summarised in some way.

Horizontal flows: flows horizontally between functional business units and work teams -> everyone
in company needs to know everything relevant in a business sense

Outward/Inward: information is communicated from and to costumers, suppliers, distributors and

other partners -> can yield competitive advantage

Technology Literacy: a technology-literate knowledge worker knows how and when to apply
technology.
- Can define what information is needed
- Knows how and where to obtain information
- Understands the information once its received
- Can act appropriately based on the information to help the organisation achieve the greatest
advantage

Hardware: is the physical devices that make up a computer. 6 basics categories

1. Input device: to enter information and commands
2. Output device: to see, hear or recognise the results of your information-processing requests
3. Storage device: to store information for use a later time
4. Central Processing Unit (PCU): to interpret and execute the system and application software
instructions
Ram: random access memory, is a temporary area for the information and the system
application software instructions that the CPU currently need.
5. Telecommunication device: to send information and to receive it from other computer in a
network
6. Connecting devices: include such things as USB into which you would connect devices

Software: is the set of instructions that your hardware executes to carry out a specific task for you.
2 types of software.
1. Application software: enables you to solve specific problems and perform specific tasks
2. System software: handles tasks specific in technology management and coordinates the
interaction of all technology devices
Operating system software: Windows, Linux, Mac OS
Utility software : anti-virus, disk optimisation

Break-Even Analysis
Break-Even point: how many products you have to sell to cover your fixed-costs

- Reducing fixed costs

No fixed cost -> point moves to zero
Digital Storefronts -> E-commerces that only have virtual world, have significantly lower fixed costs
Telecommuting -> work from home
Voice over IP (VoIP) -> allows you to use internet to make phone calls (Skype)
 Caption

computing -> you don’t need to buy hardware infrastructure

- Reducing variable costs

As you reduce your variable costs -> your break-even point occurs sooner
Virtual goods -> no variable costs
Crowdsourcing -> non-paid non-empolyees to do your work (Ebay)
IT-enable methods for reducing variable costs

- Increase revenue
Recommendation engines -> these engines make recommendations based on past purchases
Long-tail economics -> make money in niche products too

Porter and RGT

Porter identified 3 approaches to beating the competition in any industry
1. Cost leadership -> broad market scope, low cost competency
2. Differentiation -> broad market scope, unique competency
3. Focus (particular market segment or buyer group, segment of a product line or specific
geographic market) -> narrow market scope
Run-grow-transform framework: approach in which you allocate in terms of percentages how
you will spend your IT dollars on various typed of business strategies
Run -> overall cost leadership
Grow -> focus and differentiation
Transform -> new differentiation

Chapter 8 - Enterprise applications: Business communications

8.1 Supply chain management

Integrations: allow separe systems to communicate directly with each other, eliminating the need
for many entry Ito multiple systems
Application integration: the integration of a company’s existing management information systems
Data integration: the integration of data from multiple sources, which provides a unified view of all
data

2 common methods to integrate databases:

1. Forward and backward integrations
- Forward integration: sends information entered into a given system automatically to all
downstream systems and processes
- Backward integration: sends information entered into a given system automatically to all
upstream systems and processes

2. Common data repository: allows every department of a company to store and retrieve
information in real time -> allowing information to be more reliable and accessible

Integration tools
Enterprise systems: provide support and data access for a firm’s operations and business process.
- These systems can manage customer information acrid the enterprise, letting you view
everything your customer had experienced from sales to support.
- Generic, but highly customizable, group of programs for business functions.
3 Primary Enterprise Systems
1. Supply chain management
2. Customer relationship management
3. Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise application integration (EAI): connects the plans, methods and tools aimed at
integrating separate enterprise systems.

Legacy system: a current or existing system that will become the base for upgrading or
integration a new system.

- EAI reviews how legacy systems fit into the new shape of the firm’s business processes and
devises ways to reuse what already existis efficiently while adding new systems and data.
Integrations are achieved using middleware

Middleware: several types of software that sit between and provide connectivity for 2 or more
software applications -> translate informations between disparate systems

Supply chain management

Supply chain: consist of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in obtaining raw materials or a
product.
- The average company spends nearly half of every dollar it earns on suppliers and raw materials.
Supply chain management (SCM): the management of information flows between and among
activities in a supply chain to maximize total supply chain effectiveness and corporate profitability.

- In the past, focused primarily on quality improvement. Today, entire supply chain -> intricate
network of business partners linked through communication channels and relationships.

- Primary goal: creating a fast, efficient and low-cost network of business relationships that take
the products from concept to market.

- Performs 3 main business processes:

1. Materials flow from suppliers and their upstream at all levels
2. The organisation’s own production processes
3. Products are distributed to customers and their downstream customers at all levels
*Plan -> Source -> Make -> Deliver -> Support

- Porter’s 5 Forces Model

An effective and efficient supply chain management systems can enable an organisation to:
1. Decrease the power of its buyers
2. Increase its supply power
3. Increase buyer’s switching costs to reduce the threat of substitutes
4. Create entry barriers to reduce the threat of new entrants
5. Increase efficiencies while seeking a competitive advantage through cost leadership
- SCM metrics
Back order: an unfilled customer order for a product that is out of stock
Inventory cycle time: the time it takes to manufacture a product and deliver it to the retailer
Customer order cycle time: the agreed-upon time between the purchase of a product and the
delivery of the product
Inventory turnover: the frequency of inventory turnover

- Bullwhip effect: occurs when distorted product-demand information ripples from one partner to
the next throughout the supply chain

Digital supply chain: fully capitalize on connectivity, system integration and the information-
producing capabilities of smart devices
- Includes IoT devices, the use of advanced robotics, and the application of advanced analytics of
big data -> place sensors in everything, create networks everywhere, automate anything and
analyse everything to significantly improve performance and customer satisfaction.

Supply chain optimisation: without the right inputs, the company simply can’t create cost-
effective outputs

Procurement: the purchasing of goods and services to meet the needs of the supply chain
- Key strategy because the capability to purchase input materials at the right price is directly
correlated to the company’s ability to operate
• What quantity to minimise spoilage
• How to guarantee that our raw materials meet production needs
• What price to purchase materials to guarantee profitability
• Can purchasing all products from a single vendor provide additional discounts?

Logistics: distribution, maintenance and replacement of materials and personnel to support the
supply chain
• What is the quickest way to deliver
• What is the optimal way to place items in the warehouse for picking and packing
• What in the optimal path to an item in the warehouse
• What path should the vehicles follow when delivering the goods
• What areas are the trucks covering
- Inbound logistics: logistics support throughout the entire systems or life of the product
- Materials management: includes activities that govern the flow of tangible, physical materials
thought the supply chain safely and efficiently
• What are the current inventory levels
• What items are running low
• What items are in risk of spoiling
• How do we dispose spoiled items
• What laws need to be followed
• Which items bust be refrigerated
• What are the requirements to store or transport fragile items

SCM Disruptive Technologies

3D Printing
Blockchain
Robotics: focuses on creating artificial intelligence devices that can move and react to sensory
input
Drones
RFID: uses electronic tags and labels to identify objects wires sly over short distance; reading can
be storage on a blockchain
In future -> 4D Printing: objets capable of transformation and self-assembly

Maker movement: a cultural trend that places value on an individual’s ability to be a creator of
things, as well as a consumer of things
Makerspace: Community centres that provide technology, manufacturing equipment and
educational opportunities to the public that would otherwise be inaccessible or unaffordable

3 laws of Robotics:
1. Not injury a human or, thought inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
2. Obey the orders except where such orders would conflict with the 1st law
3. Protect its own existence as long such protection doesn’t conflict with the 1st or 2nd law

Supply chain visibility: a shipping information pipeline will provide end-to-end supply chain visibility
and enable everyone involved to securely and seamlessly exchange information in real time

Electronic Data Intelligence (EDI): a standard format for electronic exchange of information
between supply chain participants

Blockchain and Supply chain benefts:

- Immutability
- Feaud
- Provenance
- Recalls
- Scalabitliy
- Security
8.2 Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise resource planning

CRM: involves managing all aspect of a customer’s relationship with an organisation to increase
customer loyalty and retention
- Allows to gain insights into customer’s shopping and buying behaviours, in order to develop and
implement enterprise wide strategies
- Find new profitable customers
- Exceed current customer expectations
- Eliminate competition
Key players:
Lead
Account
Contact
Sales opportunity

Customer analytics: involves gathering, classifying, comparing and studying customer data to
identify buying trends, at-risk customers and potential future opportunities

Sales analytics: involves gathering, classifying, comparing and studying company sales data to
analyse product cycles, sales pipelines and competitive advantages

Uplift modeling: a form of predictive analytics for marketing campaigns that attempts to identify
target markets

RFM formula: recency, frequency and monetary value.

Evolution of CRM
1. Reporting
2. Analysing
3. Predicting

2 primary components of a CRM strategy

- Operational CRM: supports traditional transactional processing for day-to-day front-office directly
with the customers
- Analytical CRM: supports back-office operations and strategic analyst nor directly with the
customers
Marketing and Operational CRM

List Generators: compile customer information from a variety of sources and segment it for
different market campaigns
Campaign magament systems: guide users through marketing campaigns by performing such
tasks as campaign definitions, planning, scheduling, segmentation and success analytics
Cross-selling: selling additional products or services to an existing customer
Up-selling: increasing the value of the sale -> extracosts (McDonald’s)

Sales and Operational CRM

- Costumer service and support (CSS): a part of operational CRM that automates service
requests, complaints, product returns and information requests

- 3 primary technologies a sales department can adopt

1. Sales Management CRM
2. Contact Management system
3. Opportunity management CRM systems

Costumer service and Operational CRM

1. Contact center
2. Web-based self-service
3. Call scripting systems

Analytical CRM

Highlights opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling

- Customer segmentation
- Customer profitability (past)
- Customer lifetime value
Enterprise Resource Planning: integrates all departments and functions throughout an organisation
into a single MIS system (or integrated set of MIS systems) so employees can make decisions by
viewing enterprise wide informations about all business operations

- 2 key components of a ERP

1. Common data repository: allows every department of a company to store and retrieve
information in real time, making information more reliable and accessible
2. Module software design: divides the system into a set of functional units that can be used
independently or combined with other models for increased business flexibility

- Benefits
1. Enterprisewide integration
2. Real-time operations -> problems are identified quickly
3. Common data base
4. Consistent look and feel

- The evolution of ERP

From its beginning: a tool for materials planning, it has extended for warehousing, distribution and
order entry.
With its next evolution, expended to the front-office including CRM -> administrative, sales,
marketing, HR
Applications such as SCM, CRM and ERP are the backbone of e-business. Integration of these
applications is key to success for many companies
No vendor can respond to every organisational need. As a result, organisations face the challenge
of integrating their systems

CRM -> sales, marketing, customer service

SCM -> customers, resellers, partners, suppliers, distributors
ERP -> accounting, finance, logistics, production
ERP = core components + extended components
Core components: accounting, production, HR
Extended components: business intelligence, customer relationship management, supply chain
management, ebusiness

Software customisation
- business processes or workflows
- Code modifications
- Integrations
- Reports, documents, forms
- User-interface changes
ERP costs
- Software costs
- Consulting fees
- Process rework
- Customisation
- Integration
- Testing
- Training
- Data warehouse integration and data conversions
ERP in the future will focus on usability, ubiquity, accessibility, mobility
- higher cost efficiencies
- Faster time to market
- Better-enabled mobile workforce
- Better leverage data to provide insights
- New product development

Chapter 7 - Networks: Mobile Business

7.1 Connectivity: a key to communication in the Digital Age

3 primaries types of networks:

1. Local Area Network (LAN): connects a group of computers in close proximity
2. Wide Area Network (WAN): spans a large geographic area such as a state, province, country
(Internet)
3. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): a large computer network usually spanning a city (campus)

- The first radiotelephone system began operating in the US and UK.

- Automobile-based telephones were offered in 1947.
- In 1964, the first communications satellite.
Mobile: means the technology can travel with the user
Mobile business/commerce:: the ability to purchase goods and services through a wireless
internet-enabled device
Wireless: refers to any type of operation accomplished without use of a hard-wired connection

Mobile services:
- Entertainment
- Sales/marketing
- Banking
- Ticketing
- Payments
Wireless fidelity (Wifi): a means by which portable devices can connect wirelessly to a local area
network, using access points that send and receive data via radio waves.
Wifi infrastructure: includes the inner workings of a wifi service or utility, including the signal
transmitters, towers or poles and additional equipment required to send out a wifi signal
Network performance
- Bandwidth: the maximum amount of data that can pass from one point to another in a unit of
time
- Bit: the smallest element of data
- Bit rate: the number of bits transferred or received per unit of time
Wireless network benefits
- Mobility
- Real time data
- Remote work
- Security
Persona Area Network (PAN): provides communication for devices owned by a single user that
work over a short distance.

Bluetooth: a wireless PAN technology that transmits signals over short distances among
cellphones, computers, etc.

Multiple-in/Multiple-out (MIMO): multiple transmitters and receivers, allowing them to send and
receive greater amounts of data than traditional networking devices.

5G
- Low latency
- Fast connection speed
- Device connections
- AI
- Game streaming
- Machine learning
- Machine vision
- Smart cities
- Smart roads
- Virtual reality
Wifi6: the next generation go wifi expected to operate at 9.6Gbps

Protecting wireless network

- Secure sockets layer (SSL): standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link
between a web server and a browser, ensuring that all data passed between them remain
private
- HTTPS: protects against interception of communications, transferring credit card information
safely with special encryption techniques
- Each company needs to create a network security policy that specifies aspects of data integrity
availability and confidentiality or privacy

MIS departments must determine how to protect their networks

Persuasive computing: is the growing trend of embedding computer capabilities into everyday
objects to make them effectively communicate and perform useful tasks

Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM): an enterprise wide security strategy to enforce corporate
policies while enabling employee use of mobile devices
- Mobile device management
- Mobile application management
- Mobile information management
Data at rest: refers to all data in computer storage
Data in motion: being transported between locations within computer systems
Data in use: being updated, processed, erased, accessed by a systems
Digital divide: a worldwide gap giving advantage to those with access to technology

Asset tracking: use RFID on expensive products to gather data on the item’s location with a little or
no manual intervention

Geographic Information Systems (GIS):

- Finding what is nearby
- Routing information
- Sending information alerts
- Mapping densities
- Mapping quantities
Chapter 5 - Electronic commerce

You can expect to see an increasing shift of advertising dollars from TV and newspaper to the
Internet

E-commerce: is a commerce accelerated and enhanced by IT.

- Powerful new relationships that breaks down business barriers
Path-to-profitability (P2P): formal business plan that outlines key business issues such as
customer targets, marketing strategies, operation strategies, and projected target for income
statement and balance sheet

E-commerce business models

Supply x demand
- B2G: large in terms of revenue
- C2G
- G2B: guarantees, confiscated items
- G2C: paying taxes, registering vehicles, providing information and services
- G2G: providing foreign aid, sharing of border patrol activities
- C2B: expected to grow, blogging
- C2C: intermediary organisation as E-bay sometimes
- B2B: highest level of money; tremendous efficiencies -> horizontal vs. Vertical
- Horizontal: connects buyers and sellers across many industries, primarily for MRO materials
commerce
- Vertical: connects buyers and sellers in a given industry
- B2C: amazon, Netflix -> easy to enter, buyer power is high
- Price
- Ease and speed of delivery
- Ease of ordering
- Your return policy

B2C B2B

Convenience Maintenance, repair and

operations (MIRO)
materials

Specialty Direct materials

Commodylike E-marketplaces

Digital Trust and continuity

required

Marketing mix Online negotiation

Conversion rate IT system integration with

the customer system
Financial Electronic data
Cybermediary interchange

3 e-commerce critical success factors:

1. Understand your business and customers
2. Find and establish relationships with customers
3. Move money easily and safely
To create business strategies you have to understand the value that your customers place on your
products and services

Financial cybermediary (B2C): an internet-based company that makes it easy for one person to
pay another person or organisation over the internet

Electronic Data Interchange: direct computer-to-computer transfer of transaction information

contained in standard business documents
Value-Added Network (VAN): a B2B service that offers information-sharing intermediary services
between organisations based on various standards -> order products and send invoices
electronically

Crowdsourcing: a business provide enabling technologies that allow people to create, modify,
and oversee the development of a product or service

Mobile computing: is a broad general term describing your ability to use technology to wirelessly
connect to and use centrally located information

Chapter 8 - Protecting people and information

Ethics

2 factors affected what you decide what is right or wrong:

1. Basic ethical structure, which you develop as you grow up
2. Set of practical circumstances inevitably involved in the decision that you’re trying to make

Intellectual property: is intangible creative work that its embodied in a physical form
Copyright: is the legal protection afforded an expression of an idea
The fair use doctrine: you can use copyrighted materials in certain situations:
- creation of new work with certain limit
- teaching purposes

Key logger: is a program that when installed recordes every keystroke and mouse click

Privacy and employees

Business have good reasons for seeking and storing personal information on employees:
1. Want to hire the best people possible
2. Want to ensure that staff members are conducting themselves appropriately and now misusing
company resources
3. Cn be held liable for the actions of employees

Privacy and consumers

Business face a dilemma:

- customer want business to know where they are, but want them to leave them alone
- Customers want business to provide what they want, but they don’t want them knowing all their
habits and preferences
- Customers want business to tell them about products they might have, but they don’t want to be
inundated with ads
Cookies: a small file that contains information about your web activities

Chapter 6 - Data

Levels -> Formats -> Granularities

Types of Data

Transactional data: data contained within a singles business process or unit of work, with primary
goal to support daily operational tasks
Analytical data: encompasses all organisational data, with primary goal to support the performance
of managerial analysis tasks -> making important decisions

Report: data organized in a a table, matrix or graphic, allowing users to comprehend information
Static report
Dynamic report

Analytics: fact-based decision making

Descriptive
Predictive
Prescriptive

Data quality

Data inconsistency: occurs when the same data element has different values
Data integrity issues: occur when a system produces incurred, inconsistent or duplicate data

Characteristics of high quality data:

- Accurate
- Complete
- Consistent
4 primary-reasons for low quality data:
1. Online customers intentionally enter inaccurate data to protect their privacy
2. Different systems have different data entry standards and formats
3. Enter abbreviated data to save time or erroneous by accident
4. Third-party and external data contains inconsistencies

Business consequences for low quality data:

- Inability to track customers accurately
- Difficulty identifying the organisation’s most valuable customers
- Inability to identify selling opportunities
- Lost revenue opportunities from marketing to inexistent customers
- The cost of sending undeliverable email
- Difficulty tracking revenue because of inaccurate invoices
- Inability to build strong relationships with the customers
Data governance: Refers to the overall management of the availability, usability, integrity and
security of company data
Master Data Management (MDM): the practice of gathering data and ensuring it is uniform,
accurate, consistent and complete

Database: maintains data about various types of objects

Database Management System (DBMS): creates, reads, updates and deletes data in a database
while controlling access and security
Common data-base terms:
- Data element: the smallest unit of data
- Data models: logical data structures that detail the relationship among data elements by using
graphs and pictures
- Metadata: provides details about data
- Data dictionary: compiles all of the metadata about the data elements in the data model
Relational database model: stores data in the form of logically 2 dimensional tables
Relational database management system

Common big data analysis errors:

- analysis paralysis
- Lack of a data steward
- Data Silos
- Lack of analytics
- Thinking you control your data
Keys -> manage and organise various entities, create logical relationships

Advantages of using a text document or a spreadsheet:

- Increased flexibility: databases tend to mirror business structures, and a database meeds to
handle changes quickly and easily, just as any business needs to be able to do
- Increased data security: as systems become increasingly complex and highly available over the
internet on many devices, security becomes even a bigger issue
- Reduce data redundancy: redundant data can cause storage issues along with data integrity
issues, making it difficult to determine with values are the most accurate
- Increased data integrity: data streaming into a database must be validated and checked to
ensure it is accurate
- Increased scalability and performance: the database has to be scalable to handle the massive
volumes of data and the large numbers of users expected for the launch of a website.

Relational integrity constraints: rules that enforce basic and fundamental information-base
constraints
Business-critical integrity constraints: enforce business rules vital to an organisation’s success and
often require more insight and knowledge than relational integrity constraints
Identity management: a broad administrative area that deals with identifying individuals in a system
and controlling their access to resources within that system by associating user rights and
restrictions

6.2 Data Warehouse and Blockchain

Distributed computing: processes and manages algorithms across many machines in a

computing environment

Ledger: records classified and summarised traditional data

Blockchain: A type of distributed ledger, consisting of blocks of data that maintain a permanent
and tamperproof record of transactional data; formed by linking tighter blocks, data structures
containing a hash, previous hash and a data. -> build a decentralised system that stores
unalterable data records
Genesis block: the first block created in the blockchain
Hash: a function that converts an input of letters and numbers into an encrypted output of
a fixed length -> links to compare, make unbreakable
Blocks: data structures containing a hash, previous hash and data
Ethereum: a decentralised, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality

- Banking
- Fraud detection
- Payments
- Healthcare
- Smart contracts
1. Transactions are bundled into a block
2. Miners verify that transactions within each block are legitimate (proof-of-work)
3. A reward (like bitcoins) is given to the first miner who solves each proof-of-work
4. Verified transactions are stored in the public blockchain

Proof-of-work: A requirement to define an expensive computer calculation, also called mining, that
needs to be performed in order to create a new group of trestles transactions (blocks) on the
distributed ledger of blockchain. (Exercise when a new transaction is inserted in the blockchain
through an activity that is called mining - somehow expansive activity for building an cryptographic
puzzle that have to be spread all over the network in order to create this non modifiable block). It
has 2 primary goals.
1. Verify the legitimacy of a transaction, or avoid the double-spending
2. Create are digital currencies by rewarding miners for performing the previous task.

*Centralised ledger (dropbox) and decentralised ledger (blockchain)

Proof-of-stake: a way to validate transactions and achieve a distributed consensus (connects all
the blocks)

Blockchain advantages:
Immutability
Digital trust
Internet of things integration

Blockchain applications:
NFT
DAOs
Smart contracts (backbone of daos)
Supply chain management
Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoins: a type of digital currency in which a record of transactions is maintained and new units of
currency are geared by the computational solution of mathematical problem with operates
independently of a central bank

Non-fungible token (NFT): is a digital signature backed by blockchain technology that proves
ownership of something. Unlike bitcoins, that are all identical by design, NTFs are unique.

Business Intelligence

Data rich, information poor -> data aggregation: collection of data from various sources for the
purpose of data processing

Dataset: an organized collection of data

Comparative analysis: compares two or more datasets to identify patterns and trends

Big Data: a collection of large, complex data sets, including structures and unstructured, which
cannot be analysed using traditional database methods.
Snapshot: a view of data at a particular point in time
- Answer questions quickly and completely
- Trust in your data
- Empower employees
Competitive monitoring: occurs when a company keeps tabs on its competitor’s activities on the
web using software that automatically tracks all competitor website activities such as discounts and
new products
- Where has the business been?
- Where is the business now?
- Where is the business going?
Data-drive decision making is usually undertaken as a way to gain a competitive advantage

Data Warehouse: a logical collection of data gathered from many different operational databases
that supports business analysis activities

Source data: identifies the primary location where data is collected

Raw data: data that has not been processed for use

Problems in integrating databases:

- Inconsistent data definitions
- Lack of data standards
- Incomplete/incorrect data
- Ineffective data access
Data analysis

Data cube: representation of multidimensional data

Data lake: a storage repository that holds raw data until the business needs it
Data cleansing/scrubbing: a process that fix or discards inconsistent, incorrect or incomplete data

Dirty data -> inaccurate, non-integrated, misleading, incorrect, duplicate

Analysis paralysis solutions:

- Data visualisation
- Business intelligence dashboards
Chapter 7 (2) - Infrastructure, cloud computing, metrics and business continuity planning

Service-oriented architecture (SOA): is a software architecture perspective that focuses on the

development, use and reuse of small self-contained blocks of code (services) to meed all the
applications software needs of an organisation
- Be lean, agile organisation
- React quickly
- Adapt quickly to new advances in technologies
- Transform its processes, structure and initiatives to mach a changing dynamic workforce
- Provide multi-channel service delivery options and customisable products and services
Cloud-computing benefits:
- Lower capital expenditures
- Lower barriers to entry
- Immediate access
- Real-time scalability
IT metrics

Benchmarking: continuously measuring system results and comparing those results with
benchmarks

Infrastructure-centric metrics: measure of the efficiency, speed and capacity of technology

- Throughput
- Speed
- Accuracy
- Availability
- Response time
- Scalability
Web-centric metrics:
- Unique visitors
- Total hits
- Page exposure
- Conversion rate
- Click-through
- Cost-per-thousand
- Abandoned registrations
- Abandoned shopping carts

Call-center metrics:
- Abandon rate
- Average speed to answer
- Time-service factor
- First call resolution
Business continuity plan: step-by-step guideline definition how the organisation will recover from
a disaster or extended disruption of its business process
1. Organisation strategic plan
2. Analysis
- Impact
- Threat
- Impact scenario
- Requirement recovery document
3. Design
4. Implementation
5. Testing
6. Maintenance

Chapter 9 - Systems development and project management: Corporate responsibility

Developing Enterprise Applications

Conversion: the process of transferring information from a legacy system to a new system
Legacy system: an old system that is fast approaching or beyond the end of its useful life within an
organisation
Off-the-shelf application software: supports general business processes and doesn’t require any
specify software customisation to meet the organisation’s needs
Systems development life cycle (SDLC): the overall process for developing information systems ->
planning, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation, maintenance.

Project Management: is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques o project
activities in order to meet projects requirement.

Project: is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service

Body of project management:

One time
Limited funds/time
Specific resources utilised
Performed by people
Planned, controlled
Specific Deliverables

Main activity:
Plam
Perform/Program
Monitor
Improve

The triple constraint:

The project manager needs to balance these competing goals
Scope goals
 Time goals
Cost goals

Amount of effort (people):

Concept: 5%
Planning: 20%
Execution/Control: 60%
Closing: 15%

PDCA Cycle: Plan -> Do -> Check -> Act (improve) (can change to PDAC)

Relationship Diagram
Quadrado: entity
Losango: relationship
Circulo: attribute