Exam 3 Study Guide Essay Example

Exam 3 Study Guide Essay Example Exam 3 Study Guide Essay Exam 3 Study Guide Essay MIS Exam 3 study Guide l. IT Governance and Project Management CDM, NEU, Brose, Capital One, Choice Point 1 . How can we use the Project Life Cycle and the triple constraint triangle to assess a projects performance? CDM: They had a library of technical best practices from past projects stored in-house. Most employees knew each other Then company grew and a dispatcher emailed engineers and scientist with questions. He was a knowledge-sharing platform. Then it was changed to an intranet of technical disciplines. They also had ways of contacting experts through emails or contact info. CDM then changed to an ERP ystem and added a decision support platform to assess actual projects outcomes against best practices knowledge to continuously improve. Project life cycle: It lets reassess the projected solutions and improve it to have more efficient results that best fits the organization. With CDM they changed the way they managed knowledge multiple times. The PLC allowed them to implement a solution that was best for the company at that time. As the company grew they were able to reassess their solutions and change it. Project triple constraint triangle: When CDM had to increase the scope of their knowledge management solution that meant ncreasing cost (more dispatchers Intranet ERP system). Every time they reassessed their problem they had to incur more expenses. Brose Implemented an ERP system to connect their growing business from acquisitions They were able to collect data about key processes and it helped them learn about weaknesses and improve them like forecasting and long term planning They were able to implement the new system nicely with a consulting team that collaborated with end-users and gave training. They had a pilot approach. First testing new system with one plant and then expanding it to other plants Project life Cycle: The ay the project was planned, designed and implemented helped with the success of the ERP system with Brose. They were able to go through all of the PLC steps in the same order as well as in a way that would work for the company Project triple constraint triangle: It is a good way to control a big project that has many features and processes that needs to be considered. It allows setting a plan. If there are any changes done it reminds managers to consider all aspects Capital One They create new projects based on testing and analyzing a lot of data to create new products/services and enter new markets. They are very innovative and they foster Information technology is very important in this firm and highly used. Choice Point Hackers entered the system and stole identities of thousands of accounts. They created hotlines, compensations for victims and suffered lawsuits, federal investigations and drop in stock. 2. What challenges does an IT project face and how can such issues/challenges be addressed? (consider different stakeholders) The risk of the project is a major challenge since some projects can be more risky than others based on the project size, project structure, and level of technical xpertise needed by the IS staff and project team The main challenges start at the 4 stages of project management and the activities following up those stages. In addition, aligning the stages to the structure, technology, people and tasks from the business needs to the project. People business unit and IT staff, project team chart, PMO Process temporary, event = episode, releases Technology tools to record/monitor/track project activities outcomes 3. How might a companys IT governance affect the success of that companys IT services? Companies that work closely with their IT architect will be able to have more uccessful projects since their input can be valuable and helpful into creating processes and architectures that are more efficient, lean and useful for all parties. With deep assistance and guidance from IT professionals it will allow the company to fully benefit from his/her knowledge. The Feedback and user participation from executive to end user is facilitated by IT specialist. They facilitate communication and needs from both departments. They help with the design, implementation, post implementation and periodic reviews. As well as any changes needed and best 4. What are the project/lT sourcing options and why might a company choose one approach over another? Used when product/service is not a core competency of the company Best way to have another company that specializes in that product/service and not Jeopardize firms performance This helps company focus more on their core competency Outsourcing Option Reason Multi-vendor approach Multiple vendors that specialize in several services/products gives less burden to only one vendor Competition between vendors can also help get better services and prices Challenges: dedicated staff to oversee all relationships, more complex anagement systems, and all vendors needs to collaborate together. Single vendor Lower management overhead and time expenses Ability to get discounts due to large quantities Closer relationship can boost collaboration in many aspects and activities II. Strategic Value of IT within the Organization and Sourcing/ Staffing IT Services Young Audiences, Pepsi 1 . What role (by information processing level) does IT services play in the organization (i. e. , where do IT personnel add value)? In organizations with centralized structures IT services are usually located in only one department and is managed by a project manager. They dont collaborate much with other end-users from all the departments that will use the system. Therefore, it is more valuable to have IT staffing/sourcing to work in a decentralized method under a high level manager. This will allow more power from the IT specialist to give ideas on how to be more efficient and change old practices. In addition, it will yield more cost savings, lean processes and other efficient outcomes from the collaboration between IT specialists, end users, and managers. They add value in business demands, give new ideas on information requirements that are more technological driven, this ould also change the business demands of a company by moving towards technology. Young Audiences: At young audiences the IT specialists worked really close to all the chapters to fulfill any needs and add more functions to the base platform. They also had a middleman that was able to connect the chapters needs and communicate it to the IT vendor. This proved to be a good strategy. However, it was not the best suited for the non- profit organization. This method can be useful for an organization that is not centralized but has a degree of leadership, structure and rules to follow. The IT pecialist and the project manager was able to facilitate user participation too PepsiCo: The companys growth of product lines made them have to change their SCH systems as how they distributed and operated with customers. They had local delivery people that would manage and forecast (based on order history and guessing) day- to-day orders. When the product line grew it was hard to keep up inventory management with the right mix of products needed for each customer. They invested in SCM and ERP systems to integrated core business processes (purchasing, manufacturing, selling, warehousing and distribution) and automate data on every tep along the chain. This helped pepsi to have real time data to promptly address performance issues and improve overall business processes and services. Pepsis transition to ERP and SCM systems proves they understood where they needed that technology to fulfill their business needs. With the help of IT professionals, they implemented the best fit of new technologies that will allow improvements on current business processes and still consider the companys future growth. The IT staff guided pepsi into using systems that had potential to grow along with the company. 2. What makes an information system strategic in its adoption or use and how do you assess strategic alignment of IT investments? 1 . Scope of effects (across enterprise think Porters value chain): Where does it add value in the chain? And which departments does it reach? 3. Seniority of attention/planning (executive commitment who decides/cuts the check) 4. Strategic alignment (supports, enables high level competitiveness goals) 3. How might IT governance differ across different companies? larger/ smaller? newer/older? 4. What are the IT sourcing options and why choose one approach over another? Ill. Info. Security Policies, Procedures and Technology Zappos 1 . What preventative measures can be implemented proactively and what responses can be planned? . What are some of the non-technology steps required to improve information security? 3. What regulatory/legal compliance requirements do companies need to consider in addressing information security prevention (proactive) and reaction (reactive)? 4. How might where (geographically) companies do business influence their approach to information security and privacy? IV. MIS Integrative Learning Framework Capital One, Winter Gear 1 . What is the strategic focus of e ach company? nformation requirements? MIS capabilities? Winter gear is more focused on operational excellence -It needs to address the operations an transactions in a more productive way -It needs it improve the management and control of their sales and how to take orders By improving in IT they would be able to have a better way to receive orders and send the products -Business processes needs to be improved by reducing time -People in the organization need to be trained to use the new way and new programs they should get Capital one is more focused in product leadership and be able to offer credit card to veryone -They should improve their innovation and strategy of evaluating each customer separate and offer them business The management and control of their current customers need to be accurate in order to avoid future loss They need to improve their business processes in order to evaluate customers faster -They also need to train the people in the organization as well as get better IT components to address the customer inquires and offer a product What can you say about alignment for each company based upon how MIS capabilities fit with information requirements and how information requirements fit with business strategy? Winter gear: processes and have the people trained to do so is what enables the operations and transaction processing requirement they have which at the same time was the driver. At the same time the information requirements such as operations and transaction processing are the main issues to be address that would enable the main problem or main driver, which is operational excellence that at first was the driver to look for the Info requirements. Capital One: Their MIS capabilities such as improve their business processes and have the people trained to make the processes faster and have quicker responses is what enables heir information requirements which are innovations and strategy in order to deliver a good product for each customer. At the same time this information requirement is what enables the business driver that are product leadership as well as customer intimacy that at first was the driver to look for a whole solution. It starts as a goal and then by having the info requirements and MIS capabilities located we address and enable the rest of it to reach the goal. What can you say about how well the MIS capabilities at each company are integrated? Winter Gear: I believe its well integrated but they need to improve on the IT and Business rocesses as a more efficient and faster way, they have a legacy system they need to get rid of Since there is a need of change for operational excellence they should integrate the new IT required with the new business processes and train the people Every organization when making changes needs to have the 3 of them integrated in order to work efficiently -Capital one is doing a great Job by having the people involved in the new tests as well as the business processes by phone -Once they found the better way to address the new customers in offering them a product they should integrate the people to ave them all offering the same and doing the same procedures -The people need to be also familiar with the IT they are using or they would need to use in case more What can you say about how MIS capabilities could be used to improve each company through innovation, managerial control, and continual o perational improvements? -People in the organization could help to have a managerial control over the order that are sent. Also it helps people to be familiar and five new ideas to innovate Business processes are key to operational improvements, make automate processes, educe lead times -IT help to make processes faster and reduce the time that people spend working, make things faster for example: receiving orders and send invoice automatic -Business processes help to improve on times to offer customers something by phone right away -People and the structure help to give new ideas and innovation in order to try different tests and find the best outcome -IT its extremely important to look for the background of each customer that calls as well as make calculations based on the answers of the customers to give the people in the organizations something to offer to the customer