CH.8 E-COMMERCE AND WEB 2.0

      There are many companies utilizing E-Commerce nowadays which is the buying and selling of goods and services over public and private computer networks. There are three types of e-commerce merchant companies; there are those that sell directly to consumers, those that sell to companies, and those that sell to government. Business to consumer is the supplier and a retail consumer. There are merchant companies and nonmerchant companies. Merchant companies are companies that actually take the title to the goods they sell. Non merchant companies are arranged for the purchase and sale of goods without ever owning or taking title to those goods. Web storefront is very popular and is where customers enter and manage their orders. An example would be Amazon. A nonmerchant e-commerce would be auctions and clearinghouses. Ebay is a great example of a nonmercant e-commerce which allows sellers to sell their products with bids or could also be considered a clearinghouse because some goods do have a stated price provided by the sellers. Disintermidation has increased market efficiency because of disintermidation which is the elimination of middle layers of distribution and suppliers. You can purchase an LCD tv directly from the manufacturer and would get delivered directly from the manufacture to you. It eliminates the distributors and retailer's inventory carrying costs and you eliminate shipping overhead and handling activity. There are two types of conflicts that are involved with e-commerce which are channel and price conflict. Channel conflict is where a manufacturer that wants to sell products directly to consumers. Price conflict is when manufacturers offer products at prices lower than those available through existing sales channels. A very important of an organization is a supply chain which is a network of organizations and facilities that transforms raw materials into products delivered to customers. Considerations include location, size, and operations; inventory includes all of the materials in the supply chain. To determine supply chain profitability you need the sum  of the revenue generated by the supply chain and the sum of the costs that all organizations in the supply chain incur to obtain that revenue. Social networking is the interaction of people connected by friendship, interests, business associations. Proper social networking from a company can lead to great business and long term profitably by spreading the word of their company positively.

CH.7: BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT

      Since business processes are very critical, complex, and dynamic in structure, it is very essential and important for organizations to practice business process management. This is the systematic process of creating, assessing, and altering business processes. Businesses can create policies, procedures, and committees to constantly evaluate how effective their business processes are. Functional processes are activities that are within a single department. A human resource manager has the power to resolve BPM issues quickly. Cross functional processes is within multiple departments in a single company. Customer relationship management is an example involves several departments. Many restaurants use a customer survey in order to address customer concerns or problems they've had. There 1(800) customer service numbers or online chats that can resolve customer problems fairly quickly. Interorganizational processes include activities from companies that process your credit card transactions and shipping details. Functional applications are used in organizations which is a computer program that supports or automates the major activities in the processes. Not many organizations have their own functional application and rather get it from a vendor and then adapt it to their type of structure. Sales and marketing applications is essential to get a company's product out their to a specific clientele, they also manage the advertising, promotions and the messages they want to send out. Operations applications are merged into manufacturing systems. Manufacturing applications include inventory, manufacturing planning, manufacturing scheduling,and manufacturing operations. It is very important for a business to control and monitor their inventory in order to see what is needed and how they are managing all of their products. A customer relationship management is a cross functional application that tracks all interactions with customers. There are four phases of the customer life cycle: which is marketing, customer acquisition, relationship management, and loss/churn. The marketing phase sends messages to a target market to attract potential customers. Customer acquisition is actually selling the product to them. Relationship Management is supporting and reselling items to customers. Apple does a great job in selling their products to customers and have been said to have very loyal customers. ERP systems are enterprise wide which tracks customers, processes orders, manages inventory, pays employees, and provides general ledger, payable, receivables, and other accounting functions. This does about everything and is primarily used in manufacturing companies. The main ERP software is SAP and another major vendor is Oracle. This can be one of the most important system to have in a company. The benefits of ERP are: successful business processes, inventory reduction, lead-time reduction, improved customer service, greater real time insight, into organization, and higher profitability.

Ch.6 DATA COMMUNICATION

       This chapter basically covers how and what is used to communicate online and through different types of networks. A network is the collection o computers that communicate with one another through transmission lines or wireless. An example of LAN would be like the computer lab at the business lab. All the computers are connected to a single location that students can access onto a single LAN since it is in the same geographic location. The WAN or wide area networks would be used for big corporations that are located in different geographic locations. Other types of internet connections would be a DSL modem which translates to a digital subscriber line. They operate on the same lines as voice telephones. I used to have DSL AOL and it seemed that it would take longer to connect to the internet. The better alternative would be to have a cable modem connected to a wireless router. They provide high speed data transmission using cable television lines. This is one of the most popular choices amongst households. Ex: Comcast installs a fast, high capacity optical fiber cable to a distribution center in each neighborhood that it serves. This is the more popular choice because when a household connects the cable into the wireless modem to a router, every person living in the household can connect to the internet with a relatively high speed. VPN is a virtual private network that creates an appearance of a private connection. A tunnel is the virtual private pathway over a public or shared network from the VPN client, VPN communications are secure because the client software encrypt, or codes so that the contents are protected from spammers. There are pubic or private keys on the internet. There are the public keys which encodes messages and private keys that decode them. Secure communication over the internet uses a protocol called HTTPS where data is encrypted using a protocol called the Secure Socket Layer. It is also beneficial to create firewalls on your computer to prevent unauthorized network access. A perimeter firewall is outside the organizational network and internal firewalls are inside an organizational network.

CHAPTER 5: DATABASE PROCESSING

A Database is a collection of incorporated records. An example of a great database would be Wal-Mart which could be considered the world's largest database with more than half a petabyte. Theirretail link allows suppliers to access large amounts of online, real-time, item-level data to help those suppliers improve operations. Unlike a typical database that can get slower as it expands and requires more time to complete backups and virus scans , their database is designed to scale without the management restrictions of other databases. Every purchase made by a customer is sent to their data warehouse and shows what people are buying, what is popular, how much of a certain product is needed at a specific Walmart, their database helps them run their company efficiently and enables suppliers to send needed products when their out of stock. A database management is a program that is used to create, process, and administer a database. Walmarts vendor isNCRs Teradata division and supports those many bytes of data and says that their systems can scale without hiccups even at an extreme number so their database is pretty accurate. Other DBMs are DB2 from IBM, Oracle, etc. Processing the database requires 4 operations which is to read, insert, modify, or delete data. In the operation phase in administering the Database, DBMS can be used to create a security system which involve user accounts, passwords, permissions, and limits for processing the database. Most Companies will not allow any outsiders to access their database, my sjsu has a username and password that when accessed shows all payments, reminders, schedules, etc. You can track problems and find resolutions to the problem and monitor the data performance. The backup and recovery can be very crucial for professors because if they for some reason lose all their notes, powerpoints, grades, etc it can be detrimental if their is not a database that has a backup. One of my professors recently lost all her data because of a trojan spam and went to an IT professional in order to manage her backups and recover her lost files. She went to individuals who understand and know how to operate backup procedure and was able to recover all of her files. Adaption is where you can set up a tracking system and manage configuration change. All changes can be recorded and manage your changes of the database. A database application is a collection of forms, reports, queries, and applications needed to process a database. Different database applications include membership application, class application, and personal training applications. I believe that knowing how to create a database is a very essential and beneficial tool to know because it can keep all business transactions in order, to date and have a company running more smoothly.

CH:4 HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

What is Hardware? Hardware contains electronic components which inputs, processes, outputs, and stores data based on the instructions encoded into the programs and software. The basic components from a hardware are inputs, processes and storage and finally to outputs. Inputs consist of the keyboard, upc reader, microphone, mouse, and scanner. The processes is the main memory, cpu, special function cards and the storage which is a magnetic disk or optical disk. From processes, the output is displayed which is the video display, what is being printed, speakers, and slide projector. The CPU is considered to be the brain of the computer such as an ecu would be to an engine of a car. It gives instructions to your computer and stores certain operations in memory.
Computer Data
Virtually all computer data is characterized by bits which can potentially be data for numbers, characters, currency, amounts, photos, or recordings which all are merely a string of bits. Bits are assembled into 8-bit chunks named bytes. They are used to measure the number of bits from one character.
A Client computer can be used for word processing, spreadsheets, etc. They have software installed that enables users to connect to the internet, use word, print. Could be public or private. Ex: San Jose State has a computer lab in the business building with the same internet router to be used from registered students and a printer everyone can use. For students using the school wireless, it is private for students and you also need a username and password. A server provides service which could be email, web sites, or all functions. Server computers need to be fast and have multiple CPUs because they need lots of main memory.
Operating Systems
The two most popular and most used operating systems  are Windows and Mac OS. 
Windows Microsoft is for the most part the most beneficial software not only for business users, but also for students. There are different versions of windows and exist in more than 85 percent of the world's desktop. You need it to create word documents, spreadsheets, power-points, etc.
Mac OS Mac developed their own operating system named Mac OS X and their applications are macintosh applications plus word, excel and can run windows through macintosh hardware. 
The Application Software carries out a service or function. Such software would be Microsoft Excel or Word. A Horizontal-market application offer different functions that are similar across all organizations and industries. Ex: Word Processors, graphics programs, spreadsheets, presentation programs.
Vertical Market Applications are specific applications to that specific business needs. A Hair Salon can use a software to schedule appointments and take payments.
One-of-a-kind Application is exclusively designed for a company. Ex: The IRS has such a software that no other organization has. It is unique.
Firmware
Firmware is a computer software that is installed into devices such as printers, print servers and other types of communication devices. Ex: A great example would be a universal remote. You program your remote to your specific television set and other devices. You enter a code and becomes part of your remote's memory.
Thin vs Thick Clients
Client-server apps need a code for both the client and the server. Ex: Microsoft Outlook
Think Client- Requires only a browser.
Thick Client- Requires additional programs other than just a browser. They don't need to be connected to a network.
Open Source Codes are available and can be read by humans. Closed Source Codes are highly protected and only accessible by trusted employees. Facebook has many codes that can only be changed by a programmer.
As students, it may not be so important to know the ins and outs of hardware and software, but as you move forward into a business professional or manager, such information can be deeply beneficial and essential for making important decisions as to what products and software will be essential to your type of project. I work at Chilis, and the company changed from paper schedules to an online website specifically for their branches. They made the business decision that seems more profitable because they are saving money by printing hundreds of pages of schedules every two weeks, it is also faster and the managers are to make changes online which is also easier and more essential.

CH 3: INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Q1: HOW DOES ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY DETERMINE INFORMATION SYSTEMS STRUCTURE?

       Information systems exist to aid organizations in accomplishing their goals and objectives. The goals and objectives are identified by its competitive strategy. Organizations first observe their industry structure then  establish a competitive strategy, which determines the value chains followed by the business processes. The structure of business processes finally concludes with the design of the information systems.

Q2: WHAT FIVE FORCES DETERMINE INDUSTRY STRUCTURE??

      Porter's Five Forces Model illustrates five competitive forces in the environment which is bargaining power of customers, threat of substitutions, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants and rivalry.

      Bargaining Power of Customers: Wanting to pay less for a gym membership

      Threat of Substitutions: Thinking of joining a sporting league to have a healthy lifestyle

      Bargaining Power of Suppliers: A landowner raising the rent

      Threat of New Entrants: A new gym opens up across the street from the other

      Rivalry: Going to the newly open gym

Q3: HOW DOES ANALYSIS OF INDUSTRY STRUCTURE DETERMINE COMPETITIVE STRATEGY??

      It is very essential for an organization to determine what their competitive strategy is going to be which is going to establish what direction the company is going to take and can be decided upon by using Porter's 4 Competitive strategies which is shown below.

 Q4: HOW DOES COMPETITIVE STRATEGY DETERMINE VALUE CHAIN STRUCTURE??

       There are different ways of choosing a competitive strategy, if a company chooses a differentiation strategy, they are choosing to develop more costly systems only if the benefits overshadow the risks.

A value chain is a network of value-creating activities which consists of 5 primary activities and 4 supporting activities. An example would be a bicycle maker. His primary activities are acquiring the bicycle parts to producing the bicycle and shipping to market and selling the bicycles and providing service to customers.

His supporting activities are managing supplier relationships, investigating new designs, hire and support employees, and managing company resources. All the stages the bicycle maker takes in his primary and supporting activities accrues costs and adds value to his/her products.Porter's model also include linkages which can be very beneficial to a company because they can reduce industry costs.

Q5: HOW DO BUSINESS PROCESSES GENERATE VALUE??

     A business process is a network of activities that produce value by converting inputs into outputs. The costs are the inputs plus the cost of the activities, the margin is the value of the outputs minus the cost. Business processes can have varied costs and effectiveness and the key to their competitive advantage is adding value while reducing costs.

Q6 & Q7:

    Organizations need to examine and evaluate their industry and decide upon a competitive strategy where they can then design business processes that span value-generating activities. By doing this, all the processes can establish the requirements of each organization's information system. There are 2 competitive techniques that can be used for a competitive strategy which are via products and services or via the development of business processes. In via products, organizations can create their existing products and making them better and having their products different from the rest of the competition. In via business processes, organizations can lock in customers by it making it to expensive for customers to leave or switch to another product. An example would be a gym where they can have high cancellation fees for members and make it an extremely difficult process to cancel their membership.

Ch.2 Collaboration Information Systems

Q1: WHAT IS COLLABORATION??

Collaboration is the "combined" efforts of two or more people that come to a common understanding. Collaboration is successful when performed correctly and more efficient than having individuals working alone. Ex:Some groups believe that by dividing up the work and coming together is useful; however, yes it might save time and the hassle of figuring out eachothers schedules, but you don't get a collaborative effort of ideas and meaningful feedback from the group. A collaborative effort involves communication, content management and workflow control. It is very important for a group to communicate and critique eachothers work in order to improve not only as individuals, but also for the group.Content management is key in making sure no information is duplicated from another team member and also to illustrate what changes have been made. Workflow control allows members to deal with specific tasks which helps run things more smoothly.

Q2: WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF A COLLABORATION INFORMATION SYSTEM?

There are two kinds of hardware; client hardware is the means you have to communication, primarily phones. Server hardware is your computer and what is installed in it like google docs and spreadsheets. The software is google docs and spreadsheets that only require internet explorer or firefox. Data is what you store from documents, to team data, etc. in word, excel, powerpoint, etc.

PROCEDURES: Starting Phase--Setting the ground rules for a team. Who will be the leader, what roles each member has, and what goals will be for the team

Planning Phase--Designating who will do what and when should it be done by. Having alternatives as well.

Doing--This is when tasks are being completed. Review what has been done and provide changes now if necessary.

Wrapping up--Being able to determine if you are done or not and if so, then document your results for future reference.

Iteration and Feedback--Providing revised answers, answering questions

People is the most important aspect of a collaborative effort. It is what attitude, qualities and skills of different team members that can make or break a group.

Q3: HOW CAN YOU USE COLLABORATION SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE TEAM COMMUNICATION??

Encouraging others to criticize your work and vice versa, if you review someone else's work, provide them with quality criticism and helping them improve.

Synchronous Communication may be hard to do because all team members need to meet at the same time with either face to face communication or through conference calls.

Asynchronous communication is when team members meet at different times due to work conflicts or different time zones. Virtual meetings can be used if your team members can not meet up so webchat will be good as well as conference calls.

Q4: HOW CAN YOU USE COLLABORATION SYSTEMS TO MANAGE CONTENT?

Sharing content with your group such as documents, illustrations, spreadsheets and other data. There are two different controls of sharing content which are:

SHARED CONTENT WITH NO CONTROL. The way most groups share information is via email attachments but can be risky if not everyone receives it or notices the attachment. The best way is to have a group shared file server which is like a disk in a local computer. It is best because, everyone in the group can go to that shared folder to look for the work.

SHARED CONTENT WITH VERSION MANAGEMENT. This is the best way for groups to share eachothers work because it is in one folder and with a version management, it can track changes made. An example would be wiki where users provide their input and make changes as well.

SHARED CONTENT WITH VERSION CONTROL. This limits actions that is taken by a particular user and do not give control over the changes to documents to particular users. Each member is given an account with certain permissions, shared documents are put into shared directories or libraries.

Q5: HOW CAN YOU USE COLLABORATION SYSTEMS TO CONTROL WORKFLOW?

Sequential Workflow occurs in a sequence

Parallel Workflow is where reviews occur concurrently

Q6: HOW DO BUSINESSES USE COLLABORATION SYSTEMS??

Problem Solving, there are different views, everyone needs to agree on a common definition or answer.

Project Management is similar to ordinary team projects because they have a starting, planning, doing, and wrapping-up phase.

Decision Making. Operational Decisions deal with day to day activities. i.e: How much produce to order from a vendor, approving a loan, what payments to pay off.

Managerial Decisions deal with how much a budget should be, how many employees needed for hire, feedback and iteration can be taken into account.

Strategic Decisions involve considering a new product, opening up another branch or buying another company. Almost always collaborative.

Structured decisions are recognized and accepted

Unstructured decisions are not agreed upon. Predictions on the stock market is a good example.

Q7: 2020

This is stating that face to face meetings will not be so common due to the growing technological advancements. Most conversations are said to be asynchronous and even corporate training! Conventions will be virtual and it seems as if people will need to learn many online skills in order to keep up with the corporate business world.