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Discussion:

1.      Information systems are too important to be left to computer specialists. Do you agree? Why or why not?

2.      National Basketball Association (NBA) is a business as well as a sport, and it needs to help its member teams stay in business and increase their revenues by using Information Systems.  If you were setting up Web sites for NBA teams, what management, organization, and technology issues might you encounter?

Answer:

Organization:  Typical organizational problems include:

·        Outdated/poor business processes (usually inherited from the past)

·        Unsupportive culture and attitudes

·        Political in-fighting

·        Turbulent business environment/changes in the organization’s surrounding environment

·        Complexity of task

·        Inadequate resources

Technology: Typical technology problems include:

·        Insufficient or aging hardware

·        Outdated software

·        Inadequate database capacity

·        Insufficient telecommunications capacity

·        Incompatibility of old systems with new technology

·        Rapid technological change

Management: Typical management problems include:

·        Lack of employee training

·        Difficulties of evaluating performance

·        Legal and regulatory compliance

·        Work environment

·        Lack of employee support and participation

·        Creating, designing, and delivering new products and services

·        Redirecting and redesigning organizations

Case studies recommended in your book:

Interactive Session: Organizations: Can Information Systems Help Johnny’s Lunch Go National?

Business Problem-Solving Case: JetBlue Hits Turbulence

Lecture 3:

3. Your brother has asked you for your suggestions to make his business, a local sandwich shop, more efficient. Describe at least three types of business processes that a sandwich shop have. Can any be better coordinated through the use of information systems?

Answer:  The business processes of a sandwich shop would include: Taking orders, making sandwiches, selling to the customer, ordering supplies, opening the store, closing the store, cleaning the store, paying employees, hiring employees, paying creditors and vendors, creating financial statements, paying taxes, managing cash.

      Many of these processes could be helped by better information systems, specifically those that require recorded data, such as any financial processes (payments, cash management, taxes, salaries) and information gathered from and distributed to employees.

4. The retail home improvement chain you work for, DIY Discount, has noticed that one of its brands of tap is not selling nearly as well as anticipated.

What information systems of the business will you use to determine the reason for the poor sales?

Discuss what information you will retrieve from which system.

Which of the information systems will be most important for your analysis?

Which of the systems will be least important?

Answer:  You might question operational level TPS to make sure that the product is actually getting to the stores and being restocked. You could question MIS to see average sales levels according to geography, location, and other factors to see if there are any specific factors affecting the sales. You might query ESS to see if the same taps are being sold by competitors and what these prices are. You might use DSS to see what factors could increase sales.

      Assuming that the taps are being properly stocked at the stores, the most important systems to question are the managerial-level systems: MIS for summaries of sales records to help identify any other factors; ESS to check competition, and DSS for higher-level analysis to forecast possible solutions.