© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott COMP3115 Information Systems Session 4: Fundamentals of Information Systems – Part II Dr. Paul Walcott Spring 2007/ © 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus

Dr. Paul Walcott Session Objectives Comprehend application software packages Analyse the process of re-engineering an information system Analyse the characteristics of Information Systems Professionals

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Session Objectives Cont’d Compare and contrast network and telecommunication systems and applications

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Introduction In the last session we looked at:  Information systems concepts, components and relationships  The cost / value of information  The competitive advantage of information In this session we will continue examining the fundamentals of information systems

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Network and Telecommunications Systems The network and telecommunication systems and applications of a business organisation are essential Business executives and other workers in organisations make use of cellular phones, video conferencing, web sites, PDAs, Notebook computers, Blackberry devices and many other mobile devices to keep in touch

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Network and Telecommunications Systems Cont’d The underlying corporate information systems rely on both public and private infrastructure (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) These complex and diverse systems are called enterprise networks

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Network and Telecommunications Systems Cont’d The underlying technologies and concepts include:  Client/Sever networks  Packet switching  TCP/IP  LANs, WANs  Wireless Networks (Wi-Fi)

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Network and Telecommunications Systems Cont’d These are all topics that students should have covered in courses such as:  Web Technology Fundamentals  Computer Networks, and  Electronic Commerce

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Network and Telecommunications Systems Cont’d To quickly recap these technologies, read Session 2 – Internetworking and the WWW from the course COMP3210 Electronic Commerce Session 2 – Internetworking and the WWW All students must ensure that they fully comprehend this material

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Application Software Packages Many IS are created from application software packages These packages cover a range of tasks which are common to businesses and that do not change significantly over time, including (Laudon and Laudon, 2005):  Payroll  Inventory control

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Application Software Packages Cont’d Many organisations, before building software solutions, try to find and “off-the- shelf” software package, that would satisfy their needs The advantage of these types of packages is that:  they are often easy to implement, and  Maintenance support is provided

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Application Software Packages Cont’d In some cases, however these packages do not exactly meet the requirements of the organisation In this case, these packages need to be customised Customisation might require additional software programming, thus increasing implementation time and cost

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Application Software Packages Cont’d When an application software package is used to develop a system, a request for proposal (RFP) is used in order to evaluate the package This RFP is submited to the software vendors

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Application Software Packages Cont’d A RFP comprises of characteristics of the package, such as (Laudon and Laudon, 2005):  Flexibility and User friendliness  Hardware and software resources  Database requirements  Installation and maintenance efforts  Documentation  Vendor quality  Cost

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Application Software Packages Cont’d “When a software package solution is selected, the organization no longer has total control over the system design process (Laudon and Laudon, 2005).” If the selected software package is not flexible then the organisation may have to change its processes  New businesses may develop their processes based on a given software package

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Application Software Packages Cont’d Examples of RFPs include the following:  q.htm q.htm  ademicPracticePartnershipInitiativeRFP.pdf ademicPracticePartnershipInitiativeRFP.pdf

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott IS Reengineering (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) Rethinking and redesigning business processes can drastically decrease cost In fact, a large part of e-business is optimising value chains through automation using information technology

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott IS Reengineering Cont’d (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) An example of business process reengineering is in the home mortgage industry in the US  Applying for a home mortgage used to take 6- 8 weeks The cost of the process was around $3,000  The goal was to reduce this to 1 week at a cost of $1,000

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott IS Reengineering Cont’d (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) These efficiencies have been achieved through a process called workflow management By utilising workflow and document management software:  documents can be worked on simultaneously by more than one person  Sending documents to different locations, securing approvals and generating reports can be automated

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott IS Reengineering Cont’d (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) This drastically improves the speed of processing of documents

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott IS Professionals (O’Brien and Marakas, 2006) Both IS and IT provide opportunities for a large number of workers worldwide When considering a career path, learning IT might help you decide whether you want to pursue an IT-related career

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott IS Professionals (O’Brien and Marakas, 2006) Economic downturns have lead to outsourcing to India, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific countries  Due to rising labour costs in North America, Canada and Europe Despite this, many opportunities still exist in IS, with new jobs becoming available everyday

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott IS Professionals Cont’d For example, in the US alone, jobs that are adding more workers in 2008 include (top 2):  Network systems and data communication analysts  Computer software engineers, applications

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott IS Professionals Cont’d Some additional required reading:  Critical Skills and Knowledge Requirements of IS Professionals /01a00060/0 /01a00060/0  Career Orientation of MIS Employees /01a00030/0 /01a00030/0

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott In Class Group Activities 14/02/08 Activity #1  Read and discuss: “Maricopa County” mini case (Laudon and Laudon, 2005, pg ) Outsourcing (Laudon and Laudon, 2005, pg. 469) Activity #2  Complete the Electronic Business Project: Redesigning business processes for web procurement (Laudon and Laudon, 2005, pg. 481) exercise

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott In Class Group Activities Cont’d 14/02/08 Activity #3  Read, discuss and create reflection questions on IS Careers. Use the following articles to help you (this should assist you in the creation of your e-portfolios): 50 Jobs that are adding workers Computer and Information Systems Managers Computer Programmers Computer Software Engineers Computer Scientist and Database Administrators

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott In Class Group Activities Cont’d 14/02/08 Activity #4  Read and discuss the research paper Career Orientation of MIS EmployeesCareer Orientation of MIS Employees

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott Conclusions In this session we discussed:  Network and telecommunication systems  The advantages and disadvantages of application software packages  The concept of process reengineering, and  The available careers to IS professionals

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill CampusDr. Paul Walcott References O’Brien, James, A., George, M., Marakas Management Information Systems. 7 th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Laudon, Kenneth, C., Jane, P. Laudon Essentials of Management Information Systems: Management the Digital Firm. 6 th Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall