BUS 188: Chapter 7 Outline

Matthew Mercado

07/29/16

BUS 188 (11:00am-3:00pm)

Chapter 7 Outline (2 page minimum)

Aggarwal

Chapter 7 Outline

            In any activity we do, there’s always a certain process that goes into it. Whether its’ figuring out the best route to school, which workout regiment to do at the gym, or even how to start your day, there’s always a step by step process. That is the system we currently live in because without order, everything would be unbalanced and a mess. Our day-to-day activities are considered structured for the most part and always follow a guideline. However, say a chef is trying to open up a new restaurant, but can’t quite figure which location would best suit it. This is what’s called a dynamic process, its less formal, is flexible, and often requires strategy. Processes define us because it gives us a criterion to abide by so that everything goes smoothly. Referring back to figuring out the best route to school, drivers who are going the opposite way would be facing traffic and thus, they would try to find an alternate route/contingency plan to avoid it at all costs. From an organizational standpoint, processes are spread out into 3 levels: workgroup, enterprise, and inter-enterprise. Depending on how wide the scope, it could prove challenging because there’s a fine line between following that process and managing it in its entirety.

            Workgroups is defined as the fulfillment of a purpose or goal when working together in groups. There’s always a certain process that goes into working alongside others because, for one, there has to be a designated leader, roles are clearly defined, issues need to be addressed as a team, and above anything else the work is accomplished. Certain operations all play a role in the process. For example, a leader of a group/team paper can designate one or two people to work on one component while the other members can compile a list of resources used for that paper. The leader is in charge of instilling responsibility and order so that the goal can be accomplished correctly and efficiently. Any and all problems should always be solved and anything overlooked could prove to be problematic. There’s a variety of workgroups such as: Sales & Marketing, Operations, Manufacturing, Customer Service, Human Resources, and Accounting. Each of these workgroups follows a process that abides by a set of functions that need to allocated and distributed evenly amongst its members.

            Enterprises spread out over an organization into multiple departments. You could say Sony Corporation is an enterprise because it’s a business that has split itself into multiple subsidiaries. Everything that helps contribute from various sources is considered an enterprise. Enterprises have a large amount of members and as an enterprise, there’s a lot of consistency needed to be maintained to work together. 3 examples of enterprise information systems include CRM, ERP, and EAI. An example of an Enterprise would be a hospital. It’s a system of doctors, nurses, medics, personnel, and patients that work together and support one another. When performing surgeries, doctors and their assistants have to work together to ensure that there work is performed efficiently and effectively and if not, it could be fatal for the patient they’re working on. Much like a workgroup, the compilation of its members have to ensure that everyone is doing their group, the work isn’t unburdening, and all problems can be solved so long as there’s a solution.

            Inter-enterprises are split into two or more independent organizations. Not only is there members spanning 1000+, but the level of procedure is formalizes, problems have solution right away, there are multiple organizations, and is more tight (sturdy) that ever. An example could be the Army, Marines, & Navy – all work in conjunction with one another to preserve peace for all citizens, thwart any and all terrorist or inhumane attacks, and maintain the stability of what our country stands for as a whole. They are all separate organizations, but they work together for a common goal – the preservation and prosperity of our country’s wellbeing. It’s a very complex if you think about it, but it’s difficult to change that kind of system because of its formality – its structured to the point where it’s impossible to change. Regardless if it’s a workgroup, enterprise, or inter-enterprise, there are two things processes quality follows: efficiency and effectiveness.

            Efficiency is defined as ratio of process outputs to inputs while effectiveness is defined as a measure of how well a process achieves an organizational strategy. Quality is an important thing to take into consideration because even with a structure and resources to utilize, if both efficiency and effectiveness aren’t taken into account, then everything that went forth into the process would be in vain. To improve the process quality, there are three 3 things to take into account: Performing that activity, augmenting a human who is performing an activity, and controlling data quality and process flow. Performance is key to any process and like all performances, its evaluated, critiques, and observed to ensure that its 100%. An example of performing an activity is booking a flight – you have to be able to find the best deal, ensure that you print out the receipt, and are on time early way before departure. The augmentation of a human performing an activity is dependent on management. If the human cannot perform the activity correctly, they have to be augmented so that they’ll learn and do better on the job. Lastly, controlling data quality and process flow is based on the data being collected about the human and activity. Both have to be working on conjunction together so that the data is matching the process correctly. 

BUS 188: Chapter 6 Outline

Matthew Mercado

07/23/16

BUS 188 (11:00am-3:00pm)

Chapter 6 Outline (2 page minimum)

Aggarwal

Chapter 6 Outline

            When working on group papers/presentations, groups usually try to find the time to work on each of their parts whenever they can. Prior to the introduction of Google Drive, they would have to interchange and edit parts so that the workload was above satisfactory, everyone contributed, and that the workload wasn’t lackluster. Life was made much easier with Google Drive, a file storage that is synced by Google that allowed people to work together on a paper/presentation at the same time. Peer edits can be made instantaneously and Google even incorporated a chat function that allowed people to converse online while doing peer editing. It made things a lot easier for group work and it allowed us to share information without there being any delay.

            This brings us to the term of Cloud, the elastic leasing of pooled computer resources over the Internet. Everything from music files to word documents were all stored in a specific location where it could be accessed. When we say elastic, it means that the computing resources leaded could increase or decrease dynamically. The amount of time it takes to edit a group paper by hand is much more time consuming that if the paper existed on the cloud and a group member could offer their inputs right away. Another thing to take note of is if the resources used on the Cloud are considered pooled because, for the most part, it is shared because organizations use the same physical hardware through virtualization. Everything that exists on the Cloud is shared and, much like a safe, is only accessible to the users. The Internet has become a tool for the future and you could say that Cloud is a provider, it pools in resources to help aid in the development of ideas via data. The services provided over the Internet have become such a powerful asset that there’s nothing you can’t learn just by accessing the Internet.

            Cloud has garnered much support from computer networks, a collection of computers that communicate with one another over transmission lines or wirelessly. There are 4 basic types of networks associated with the Cloud and these include: Personal Area Network (PAN), Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), and the Internet and Internets. PAN is a group of devices connected around a single person. LAN is a group of computers connected at a single physical site. WAN are computers connected between two or more separated sites. Lastly, the Internet and the Internets is a network of networks. The main distinction between LANs and WANs is that LAN can place communication lines wherever because all lines reside on its premises whereas WAN contracts with a communication vendor licensed by the government that has lines. The Internets connects LANs, WANs, and other Internets and with the network making up a large variety of communication methods and conventions, the details of protocol are beyond the scope of the text. Protocol is a set of rules and data structures for organizing communication. For example, computers use protocol because it exchanges data. When you’re talking with someone via chat, the computer it exchanging data from one end to another. People in general follow protocol because it follows a structure that is easy to understand and without it, there’s no communication.

            Referring back to PAN, an example of protocol associated with PAN is Bluetooth. Bluetooth is designed for transmitting data over short distances. Bluetooth can now connect to multiple devices such as desktop computers, keyboards, printers, headphones, and even smart cars. For example, when I turn on the Bluetooth option on my IPhone, I have access to listen to music or make phones via my car because it is transmitting data from my phone to the car. My car even syncs up my phone contacts as well as the library of music. Another example would be when printing from a Macbook, you could use Bluetooth to transmit data to print the document. Everything nowadays is becoming Bluetooth enables because it makes it much easier for the data to transfer over.

            The Internet’s profound influence over the world continues to evolve each and every day. From the number of websites to the amount of browser search every second, the Internet has become vast in nature.  The amount of information that exists online is so vast that it’d be impossible to know every single thing because information keep updating, changing, and most of all evolving. Each and every website has an address that identifies a specific number that identifies that the website. All of these websites are controlled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Under the ICANN, the amount of websites that exist now is limitless. Take for example the website Youtube, a video streaming service. Youtube, initially starting out in 2005, was relatively small and in the span of just 11 years, it has become the global video-sharing website that everyone uses daily. Another would renowned website is  Facebook, which initially started in 2004 and was meant for college students, but now it’s become a phenomenon for social networking and is one of the most profitable online services. This only comes to show how far technology has come and how the implementation of the Cloud has only furthered the way we access anything on the world wide web. 

BUS 188: Chapter 5 Outline

Matthew Mercado

07/23/16

BUS 188 (11:00am-3:00pm)

Chapter 5 Outline (2 page minimum)

Aggarwal

Chapter 5 Outline

            In our day-to-day lives, we keep track of every single we do. From waking up to lying in bed after a long day, there isn’t a day where our days aren’t eventful and full of tasks and responsibilities. We set an schedule/planner – we keep track of what we have do and check off each one after completion. This is very reminiscent of a database, a track of things that mostly are done on spreadsheets. The spreadsheets are grouped into columns, fields, rows, and finally records. They are recorded on table or file and then sorted out accordingly by specific elements. All of this information compiled makes up a database: Tables or Files, the relationship among rows in tables, and the metadata, data that describes data. For example, a company can maintain a list of all of its employees as well as keep track of their workload, productivity, and efficiency. All of this is to ensure that everything is in order because without a track of things to keep an eye on, there’s no organization.

            Any database is made from a database management system (or abbreviated as DBMS). This program allows people to create, process, and administer databases. The companies and businesses then license DBMS products from vendors from IBM to Microsoft to Oracle. The developers of Databases use DBMS to create tables, relationships, and structures and afterwards, begin to process the database, which requires four processing operations: Red, Insert, Modify, and Deletion. All of the operations require us, the users, to input new database changes whenever need be. Another function to take note of is the administration aspect. Administration requires the setup of many security systems such as accounts, passwords, permissions, and limits for processing the database itself. Much like a computer, there are a lot components that go into the system that require a lot of attention to detail. From its applications to the browsers, computers now have paved way for information to be easily processed. Our SJSU Library Database is a perfect example – it’s open to the students and to the public with the accessibility of acquiring resources pertaining to a large network of information. The Library itself is a structure while its online system could be considered the database for which all the information is based on. 

            However, the database tables alone aren’t sufficient. If it the information presented isn’t accurate, relevant, or even useful to right now, then it isn’t enough to be considered legitimate. This is where a database application comes in – It is a collection of forms, reports, queries, and application programs that serve as an intermediary between users and the data from the database.  The Database administration tasks are split into 4 categories (DBA tasks): Development, Operation, Backup and Recovery, and Adaptation. Each of these 4 has a set of tasks it completed while also having a description that explains their purpose. Developmental tasks include creating and staffing the DBA, form steering committee, specify requirements, validate data models, and evaluate the design of the application. Operational tasks include managing processing rights and responsibilities, manage security, track problems and manage resolutions, monitor the database performances, and managing DBMS. Backup and Recovery’s tasks include monitoring backup procedures, conduct training, and manage recovery. Lastly, Adaptation’s role is to set up a request tracking system and manage configuration changes.

            The applications have 4 elements: Forms, Reports, Queries, and Application Programs. Forms allows user to view data, updating existing data, and delete existing date. Reports are a structured presentation of data using sorting, grouping, filtering, and other operations. Queries allow users to search based on values. Lastly, application programs provided security, data consistency, and with the purpose of special processing. They came into popularity around the 90s and were, at the time, innovative through its technology. Nowadays, the database applications are evolving thanks technology improving each and every year. The database applications that make up the forms, reports, queries, and application programs go through an organizational network that make up the Database Management System (DBMS) and then Tables, relationships, and the metadata.

            Much like a planer/tracker, the list of items/things to complete are neatly organized so that each role serves some sort of purpose. The processes that go into it are integrated and blended together to make up a database. The structure alone is what forms the entire base of operations – the tasks given are a representation of a list of items that are categorized by a specific element to give it detail. Each of these inputs then spread out and given depth in nature. There are entities and relationship that exist to help show how the data/tasks are interconnected and how they entail organization within the database.  

BUS 188: Chapter 4 Outline

Matthew Mercado

07/20/16

BUS 188 (11:00am-3:00pm)

Chapter 4 Outline (2 page minimum)

Aggarwal

Chapter 4 Outline

            Technology has revolutionized the way our society works. It has paved way for society to implement changes that are much more befitting to us than before. Take for example our computers, it aids us in a variety of tasks that normally would take much longer if handwritten. Nowadays, computers comes in all shapes and sizes; some that have big monitors such as desktops or even ones that are the size of pocketbooks like tablets. The fact of the matter is, technology has changed the way we complete tasks, research, and socialize. Even now, smart phones are treated like miniature computers that can perform similar tasks a computer can. It’s a powerful piece of technology that will continue to improve because of its hardware. Consisting of electronic components, hardware could be interpreted as the heart of our computers because inputs, processes, outputs, and store data according to the set of instructions encoded within the computer program/hardware. If the hardware is a compilation if components, then the brain would be considered the Central processing unit (or CPU). Much like us, technology has incorporated a “Brain” so it could function with multiple tasks, responsibilities, and instructions. The heart and brain together make up the main memory – a collection of data/memory stored and sometimes could be called Random Access Memory (or RAM). With all these components working in conjunction with one another, technology is only amplifying our experiences.

            There are multiple types of hardware that exist. These would include personal computers, tablets, smartphones, servers, and server farms. Today, Microsoft and Apple are competitors when it comes to what kind of personal computer to have – PC or Mac? For tablet such as Ipads, Microsoft Surfaces, or Kindle Fires, it’s becoming much more convenient to carry around because of its size, durability, and convenience. Just about everyone is social networking on multiple platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snap-Chat, or Twitter. All these applications are commonly used on our smartphones regardless if they’re Samsung Galaxies or IPhones. Our handheld devices have truly revolutionized the way we’ve accessed information. Servers are a support mechanism for computers and their users similarly to clients and servers in business. When there is a huge collection of servers, this is known as the server farm. Together, all of these types of hardware help define multiple devices that have only furthered the way we view our world. Technology companies are truly influencing the way electronics have been used and will only continue to improve more because of smart-minded people, innovation, and knowledge.

            Information and Data play a pivotal role in the representation of electronic devices. For instance, our computer’s data represents bits (or binary digits). They serve as switched much like an off-and-on light switch. Another important component are the size of data. Much like a Brain, it can withstand a barrage of information and store it in its memory. Referring back to bits, when chunked together in 8-bits, they are called bytes. The measure of the bytes only continues to grow as there are Kilobytes (KB), Megabytes (MB), Gigabytes (GB), Terabytes (TB), Petabytes (PB), Exabytes (EB), and Zettabytes (ZB). The processing power of computers has only improved and with that amount of memory/storage, there are thousands upon thousands of information that we can research, read, and learn from that computers are easily able to capture.

            The Internet of Things is the idea that objects are becoming connected to the Internet so that they could interact with other devices, applications, or even services. In present day, the way data is transmitted and processed is steadily improving because of the implementation of larger memory banks. This is turn would bring forth the smart device such as our phones because it has more processing power, memory, Internet Access, Wii-fi connectivity, and the ability to connect via other devices. For example, I happen to own 3 devices – An IPhone, tablet, and a Macbook Pro. If I wanted to put music on my IPhone, which then would serve as a MP3 player, I would have to connect my Macbook and IPhone together so that the devices can sync, share data, and transfer information (in this case, music files known as mp3s). Before, you’d have to buy Phones and MP3 players separately because they both serve different purposes. Now, I have a phone that can do multiple things – play music, access an application, and even play a game. To further the idea of smart devices, augmented and virtual reality were made. This takes the real world and then computer-generates a reality. A primary example would be in the field of videogames, people now can play augmented and virtual reality videogames to amplifies the experience of playing games. Before we know it, all these enhancements will become the norm.

            Aside from out computers, phones, and videogames getting an upgrade, a big game changer would be self-driving cars. These cars would have to be programmed to be able to read different situations and avoid any obstacles. However, even with this idea becoming revolutionary, it’s safe to assume that we’re not all going to have self-driving cars because tech giants have to ensure that it’ll provide the means for transportation efficiently without worry of harm. There’ll be multiple people split in the middle on this issue, but if it could further advance our experience, then I don’t personally why it can’t be attained. We’ve come so far from what we have and it’ll only continue to get better from hear on yet. Innovation is the root for all things to be improved upon.   

BUS 188: Chapter 3 Outline

Matthew Mercado

07/17/16

BUS 188 (11:00am-3:00pm)

Chapter 3 Outline (2 page minimum)

Aggarwal

Chapter 3 Outline

            The overall goals or objectives in any organization are to have some sort of strategy based on their structures, features, and functionality.  The structure alone determines the overall design of the supporting systems. Referring back to Chapter 1, Information systems are defined as: an assembly of hardware, software, data, procedures, and people that help produce information. In determining the organizational strategy of Information systems, it follows a 5-step format: Industry Structure, Competitive Strategy, Value Chains, Business Procedures, and Information Systems. When developing and implementing a strategy, it’s always best to not only know your competitors, but also what organizations can do to have the upper hand. 

           

A model used to analyze and assess an industry’s structure is Porter’s five-forces model. This model helps determine profitability, bargaining powers of the customers, threat of substitutions, bargaining powers of the suppliers, threat of new entrants, and rivalry amongst existing firms. Each of these will help determine the industry as a whole from the money they are profiting from to how well they can sustain that profit. If none of these are taken into consideration, then the outlook on the industry is being overlooked and we aren’t setting ourselves apart from other organizations. In taking these steps, organizations can create and choose a competitive strategy. They can shift their focus, for example, on products or services, or look at from a segmental standpoint. Take for instance Netflix, a video streaming service online. Its competitors such as Hulu and YouTube Red are trying to acquire subscribers by providing the variety of shows so long as they pay their dues monthly/yearly. The primary difference ranges from variety of shows provided, the quality of the videos themselves, the price of the plan, and the overall entertainment value. This is where companies try to retain their customers while also looking into how to sustain their profits, thus they have to find the competitive advantage over their competitors.

            Organizations that begin to develop, plan, and implement their strategies have to think of the overall structure of their business. An organization could potentially lean toward a differentiation strategy, although this could prove to be costly than effective. When looking at their business activities, they look the overall value chain – network value-creating activities. The chain is divided into primary and support activities. Some examples of primary activities are: Inbound logistics, operations/manufacturing, outbound logistics, sales and marketing, and customer service. For support activities, they contribute directly to production, sale, and service of the product. For both activities, they both serve a purpose.

            Much like Value Chains, a business process is a network of activities that generate value by transforming inputs into outputs. The overall business process cost inputs the cost of the activities and the margin of the business process is the value of those outputs deducting the cost. The activities can be performed by a human, computer system, or perhaps a little of both. Each activity plays a role and serve a overall purpose so long as it is achieves its desired result. The business processes vary when it comes to costs and effectiveness; just because you achieve a desired result doesn’t mean that there could be a price to pay or its 100% effective.

It’s important how organizations utilize their information systems so they can have a competitive advantage. For example, an organization could have competitive advantage over products and services. An organization’s products and services could be considered fairly new, enhanced/advanced, and differentiated from others. To implement thus, they would have to retain customers and buyers, retain their suppliers, raise barriers to market entry, establish alliances/friendships, and most importantly, reduce the costs of that product/service.

            Information systems are beneficial when it comes to creating competitive advantage. Referring back to the Netflix example, that product/service has been able to retain its customers, establish alliances w/TV and movie networks, and most importantly have kept the costs to a minimum. That’s why so many have subscribed to that service based on those three factors and to this day, is still continuing to grow. Netflix has even ventured forth into developing its own shows that are exclusive to its streaming services, yet another reason to differentiate itself from its customers. However, the Hulu streaming services have started developing their own originals and thus have become a competitor. The biggest differentiation between Hulu and Netflix is that Hulu still has ads despite the low price to watch the shows whereas with Netflix, no ads. Another example of competitive advantage could be over business processes. Organizations have to be able to retain its customers by making it as difficult as possible to switch to another product. This is commonly referred to as switching costs because when locking in their suppliers, they’re making it harder for customers to switch to another organization. They could potentially make it harder for new expensive products from coming into the market and thus retaining its customers.

            Strategies are important to any sort of organization. It keeps tabs on the entirety of the organization and sees what needs to be improved while also issuing what needs to be fixed. The inputs have to balance out the outputs and the whole point of it is to sustain customers and make a profit. In doing so, implementing the best strategy would ensure that an organization has a competitive advantage over its competitors. This only comes to show how Information Systems plays an important role in decision-making.

BUS 188: Chapter 2 Outline

Matthew Mercado

07/16/16

BUS 188 (11:00am-3:00pm)

Chapter 2 Outline (2 page minimum)

Aggarwal

Chapter 2 Outline

                  When we enter into the workforce alongside our peers, there is one thing that we’ll be primarily doing: working together to achieve a common goal for a company, place, or business. However, there is a key difference when achieving a goal and receiving feedback on improvement vs. achieving a goal without any assurance that we’re doing it correctly. The difference between both best defines the words Collaboration and Cooperation. In collaborative efforts, feedback is given so as to improve whatever it is we are trying to accomplish. That feedback is necessary not only to evaluate how we are doing, but also to learn how to make situation/scenario easier. If, however, we aren’t trying to receive any form of feedback, all we are doing is cooperating. It’s true that we are working together to achieve a common goal, but if we aren’t getting any feedback on our performance, then how could we improve? We may not know ourselves if our work is correct or if there’s anything needed to enhance the experience of learning. For example, when working together on a group paper, one could say that everyone is working together on his or her separate parts and receiving feedback from everyone. On the other hand, everyone could be working on their separate parts, but are doing it for the sake of receiving a letter grade and not caring about whether its right or wrong. Breaking down everything in order to know right from wrong is pivotal anywhere. Feedback could also be misinterpreted as constructive criticism, but to achieve desired results for success, it is necessary to improve upon anything in order for our work to not go in vain and have meaning. If we don’t regard our own work, then we’re really improving or learning anything. It is important to understand the two because as soon as we graduate, we’ll be encountering these two.

                  In order for collaborative efforts to be successful, there are three things to consider. First off, achieving desires results or successful outcomes is important. Going back to the working on a group paper example, it’s important to highlight all the efforts together to evaluate how we think we did overall. Once the desires results come in, it weighs in if it paid off in the end.  Questions such as “Did we do it?” or “Was it a success?” are important to note because in accomplishing any goal or task, we’re measured by our performance to get the job done. When understanding that, we learn about our capabilities when working alongside others. With any team, it fluctuates based on multiple factors. Did the group work well together? Did we learn from experience as a whole? Did anyone overshadow the other in his or her workload? The emphasis is the team as a whole and how they work off each other. Their growth as a team/group is dependent on if they learned anything from one another and if they could utilize that when entering into the workforce. Lastly, success for any team or group has to have an experience worth noting. The work they’re doing must be engaging, exciting, and most of all feel important to make the entire process run smoothly and efficiently. Everyone’s collaborative efforts have to be taken into account as it builds satisfaction and fosters relationships. 

                  There are many reasons for people to collaborate, but there are four primary reasons: To become informed, make decisions, solve problems, and manage projects. It is important to be informed about why you’re collaborating in the first place. From then, you create a basis where you work to achieve a common goal as well as work off each other to better understand what is needed to get the work done correctly and efficiently. Communication is key in teamwork and in doing so, decisions can be made and issues can be addressed if need be. Decision-making isn’t always easy because we all have to understand our decisions/options and their impact on the overall process. There are three types of decisions: Operational, managerial, and strategic. All of these types of issues centers on if the information presented is considered structured or unstructured. When any decision is made, we have to be able to process our team members’ perspective/opinion on it and work together to achieve a mutual agreement. Once groups/teams make decisions, it’s important to issue any problems/issues that could arise. For example, there could be problems formulating from the formatting of a NBA player roster ~ who is the point guard, center, and defensive guard? In resolving any problems or issues, it’s best to implement these steps: Define what the problem is, Identify alternative solutions, Specify evaluation criteria, Evaluate those alternatives, Select an alternative, and finally implement a solution to the problem.

                  There are 4 reasons to collaborate followed by 3 things to consider when working in teams/groups, but there is also a certain process that goes into how everything mends together. These processes can be defined phases and it begins with the starting phase and ends with the finalization phase. Starting phase deals with setting up team authority (Who is the leader), specifying roles amongst team members, identifying roles and responsibilities, and most importantly discussing the scope of what is needed to be accomplished. After setting up the team and identifying everything needed to be addressed, the next phase is the planning process. Planning requires a group/team determining the tasks and assigning them, create a set schedule, and revising anything so that everything fits. The Doing phase is all about performance, management, analysis, and overseeing progress of the entire scope. Lastly, the Finalizing phase deals with completion, preparing documentation, and the team disbanding afterwards because the goals have been achieved. All of the reasons and drives behind why collaboration is important are contingent on the definition of a collaboration information system.  A collaboration system is an information system that supports the idea of collaboration. There are five components of an information system for collaborating: Hardware, Software, Data, Procedures, and People. This is the five-component framework and it is applied in just about everything ~ a process that is clearly shows all inputs and outputs and how they all interconnect.

                  Communication is pivotal in collaboration. Before the work can begin or responsibilities assigned, it’s important to note that if there’s no voice of direction, then there’s no purpose. It’s important to communicate to reach out and address skills and tasks needed in order for collaboration to work. There are two communication types: Synchronous and Asynchronous. Synchronous deals with interaction at the same time whereas with asynchronous, interaction not at the same time. An example if a video conference call would be considered synchronous and a text message would be asynchronous. In order for collaboration to take place and for others to work off each other, communication is key in order for the process to get started and running.

BUS 188: Chapter 1 Outline

Matthew Mercado

07/12/16

BUS 188 (11:00am-3:00pm)

Chapter 1 Outline (2 page minimum)

Aggarwal

Chapter 1 Outline

                  Since the conception of the Digital Revolution in the 1970s, the digital age began to shape the way people view technology. Prior to going digital, we primarily relied on mechanical and analog devices, but for the most part digital devices had much more capabilities. In the 1970s, a man named Gordon Bell stated that digital devices would only continue to grow every 10 years. This principle of his was known as “Bell’s Law” and since then, each year brought about new changes in technology. Each and every year, an invention would revolutionize the world and to this day, we still use them and they’ve only gotten better. PC computers were made popular in the 1980s while in the 90s; cellphones and the Internet became the norm. Then, in the year 2000, just about every digital was network-enables and social networking paved way for the future.  The boundary of the new tech has garnered much attention that we, the people, are waiting in anticipation of what the next big thing will be. Technology, one way or another, is integrating itself into everyday life and is making our life much more convenient and advanced than ever before.

                 

                  Aside from Bell’s Law, other laws have implicated an advancement of various attributes related to digital devices such as cost of data approaching zero (Moore’s Law), networks increasing when connected together (Metcalfe’s Law), the speed of networks greatly improving (Nielsen’s Law), and capacity (storage) to grow (Kryder’s Law). All these laws and advancements in technology point in one direction: MIS. MIS primarily will help us in 4 fields: Abstract reasoning, systems thinking, collaboration, and ability to experiment. We apply each of these skills in business to better grasp MIS’ influence plays a huge role in our lives. Abstract reasoning deals with the creation/conception of models that’ll become a basis for understanding information. Systems thinking focuses on all components relating to a system and how they help shape that system. Collaboration is the workload of two or more to help illustrate teamwork and efficiency. Experimentation is all about thinking outside the boy – analyzing solution, seeing discrepancies/problems, and seeking opportunities. Having the knowledge of these skills as well as understanding MIS helps clarify three things: The background to assess, evaluate, and apply information systems technology to business, give people a tight job security through marketable skills (Abstraction, Systems thinking, Collaboration, and Experimentation), and understanding that most MIS-related jobs are high in demand.

                 

                  MIS is best defines as the management and use of information systems to help organizations achieve their strategies. MIS’s definition is often mistaken for Information systems (abbreviated IS) or Information Technology (abbreviated as IT). These three words mean completely different things, but all three work together. Information Systems is best defined as an assembly of hardware, software, data, procedures, and people that help produced information whereas Information Technology is the actual products, methods, inventions, and standards use to product information. In a sense, IT helps IS and together: MIS. MIS has 3 critical elements: Management and usage, information systems, and developing strategies.

                  A system is defines as a group of parts interacting to achieve a purpose. The framework to best help describe a system would be the Five-component framework: a model of information system: Hardware, software, data, procedures, and people. For example, when writing a post on Facebook on any device: we are using the monitor, keyboard, and the computer itself (Hardware), using Facebook (Software), the letters, emojis, and symbols for typing (Data), using an Internet Browser to open up the application (Procedure), and lastly us. The Five-component framework is an assembly of parts working together for the single purpose of achieving a goal. The framework is breaking down everything and illustrating how each of these steps is achieved in order in full detail. We may not think much when accessing Facebook on any device, but the details that go into how we access the application, what particular device we are using, what words/letters you are inputting, and what browser we are using to access Facebook show us that everything we use as a system filled with information. However, information systems do encounter problems regardless of efforts. Referring back to Facebook, the browser to open it may not open right away or perhaps the computer itself is at fault.  The solution is to understand the route of the problem and find an effective solution to remedy it. The Five-component framework’s usage in developing new systems only shows how all components work together, develop, and create strategies.

                 

                  Information is something we, day to day, acquire from all platforms. Information isn’t clearly defined or rather the context of the definition can be interpreted in multiple ways. Information could be defined knowledge derived from data or perhaps it also could be defined as data presented in meaningful context. Another such definition of the word could be processed data through a set of operations. The point is ~ any data we collect is produced as information. Going back to Facebook, when scrolling each other’s walls and reading articles, posts, and pictures ~ that is data that could be used as information. We could see an article on the latest trends and use that data to understand why those trends became trends. Information is floating everywhere and as human beings, we are conscious that we receive data 24/7 because we are able to conceive data as that of value. Information, whether minimal or huge in scale, benefits us based on the data presented. An important thing to note is that the data presented has to be: Accurate, timely relevant, sufficient, and worth its cost. Data could be misconstrued because it could be misrepresented as something else. Accuracy entails validity and truth ~ does the data hold up and does it present itself in a way that is understandable? Another thing to note is the context of the data – is it relevant or not to the situation. Say someone does a research paper on Google and gathers data, cites their sources, and includes a bibliography page. However, what if the data they’ve gathered on Google isn’t up-to-date or relevant now? It is critical to now only see if the data is accurate and relevant today, but if it’s sufficient enough to understand. Lastly, data itself isn’t free as developing information systems, costs of operating and maintaining such systems, and timely and salary costs for processing that data.

                  Knowledge acquires all sorts of inputs and outputs and in network; everything mends together to form presentable information. However, this is contingent on the basis of the data gathered. Technology today has been evolving and information is much easier to access. There are entire databases dedicated to collecting information that, for example, the MLK Library, is providing to the public. Information is as essential as air; it’s something we need in order to survive. At this rate, technology and information systems will only continue to advance and will pave way for the future.