Chapter 13

    Just two days ago and yesterday I was a part of creating a system to generate a report for a big shot guy in California. My manager gave me what needed to be done (the request from the user) which was the analysis part done for me. Then I started the design part to decide which categorical qualifications to pull for the report to be accurate and how to split the work up between myself and the other interns to get the job done quicker. The programming part included actually developing the string of qualifications and running the report and tallying how many tickets were open. The testing part of this project was sending that number to my supervisor to see if that sounded right, if it wasn't then I would run new strings and reports again. Then the conversion would have been sending the report in an email to the user in California and asking if they would like anything else done. Finally the production & maintenance would be any future enhancements (which I did have to make) to the report and strings to gain more accurate information.
    This week I read chapter 13. On Tuesday we discussed the chapter. Then I completed our Assessment over the case study on Chrysler's choice to outsource to TCS's information systems. After that, on Thursday we discussed a little bit about the case study and then we kind of went more in depth in the systems development process by deciding what the steps were for building a house (my group) and cooking (other group). Finally now I am finishing up my blog for the week.
    This week we learned about systems development. We learned that the steps for creating a system include Analysis, Design, Programming, Testing, Conversion, and Production & Maintenance. The main goal in the analysis stage is to locate and find problems or find what is needed. In the design stage, the company plans out how they are going to make the changes without actually making any change. Programming is the stage where the system actually gets changed or created. Conversion is the time it takes to start using the new system. There are a few different kinds of conversion techniques including the parallel strategy, where the new system is implemented alongside the old system simultaneously, the direct cutover technique, where the new system immediately replaces the old system, the pilot study, where the new system replaces the old system for only a small group of people before replacing the old system for everyone else, and the phased approach, which is where only one functionality of the new system replaces the same functionality on the old system at a time. This was a very interesting week of learning as this is probably what I plan to do when I have my degree (program and upkeep those programs). Well, I hope you enjoyed!

Week 11

    I believe that these Web 2.0 tools would be a great source to add and distribute knowledge across a company. The more minds you have contributing to a cause, the more knowledgeable they will be. This would make a wiki a great idea for a company to have everyone contribute their knowledge to the company as a whole. They could add discussion on important topics or add to new ones. In addition, wiki's are always current because anyone can add anything at anytime. Blogs could be utilized too, however, they probably wouldn't be as efficient as a wiki or a portal since they are only updated by the administrator of the account or by adding comments which are hard to search through for specific information. All in all, Web 2.0 tools would definitely add to the efficiency of adding and distributing knowledge across a company in my opinion.
    This week I went over Chapter 11 and on Tuesday we took a clicker quiz over it. Then on Thursday we discussed the case study on Coke's knowledge management systems. This week I created a new account on the Student Dashboard and a new AdWords account and uploaded our pre-campaign report to it. We made a campaign with a couple of AdGroups that are paused until we can get our money from Google.
    This week we went over chapter 11 which was about knowledge management. We learned that the knowledge supply chain includes four major process the first being acquisition, how knowledge is being pulled into the company. The second is storage which is pretty self explanatory, how and where the knowledge is stored. It can be stored and tacit knowledge, people with knowledge without having it put anywhere physically, or explicit knowledge, knowledge that is wrote down for anyone to use. The third step is dissemination, how the company distributes the knowledge throughout for people to use. Then the final step is application, actually using the knowledge. We also went over a bunch of intelligent techniques such as fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic is used when the answer to a decision isn't always a yes or no but has a varying scale. An example is if someone wants the room to be cool. This could mean any number of degrees that isn't always the same every time. That is basically what we went over along with some more knowledge applications and techniques.

Week 10

This week we discussed chapter 10 which was over E-commerce, selling and buying goods online. We discussed this on Tuesday in class. Then on Thursday we went a little more in-depth with a case study over online groceries. We also took a clicker quiz over the chapter on Thursday which I did decent on. Ever since Thursday, our group has been trying to straighten things out with Google on our funds for our AdWords account since I put in the wrong CID thinking we were supposed to make our own CID up and stick with it. I was wrong and now we're in a big mess. Hopefully that will get worked out fairly soon so we can get our campaign up and running to meet our deadline or at least close to it. That was basically what I did this week. Hopefully the week after spring break runs a bit more smoothly.
    This week we learned about E-commerce. The main thing that I learned myself was the different business models businesses can take. I also learned that my groups business does not employ any of these models (information broker, portal, social networking, etc.) and that they don't really need to since it is more of a B2B, business to business, model and there is not a lot of interactivity needed other than a phone number. Also since it's B2B there's not a lot of need for information density on the site since the other business probably already knows what they need/want. That is basically a wrap up of what I have learned this week in CIST 3100. Have a great spring break!

Week 9

    The biggest challenge a company faces when implementing an enterprise system is it's compatibility with their existing business processes. Enterprise systems take a long time to integrate into a company and they must be able to make a swift change in this long process. They have to be able to continue their services while moving into new processes for completing these services. Doing this change without any stalls in service can be crucial for the company as it has been shown that if there are any major hiccups in the implementation, it could mean loss of customers, profits, efficiency, or even complete failure of the company. This risk makes implementing any enterprise system into a company a very serious challenge and should be taken into account in the decision of using an enterprise system or not.
    This week I read Chapter 9. We went over customer relationship management systems on Tuesday in class. I aced the "quiz" we had on Tuesday by just showing up and writing my name on a paper. Then on Thursday we went over the other part of the section dealing with supply chain management. Now today I am collaborating with Justin Jones on the assessment over comparing two enterprise system software from two companies. We chose Oracle's Siebel Systems CRM 8.0 and Saleforce.com's CRM. Today I am also finishing up my blog for the week.
    This week I read Chapter 9 which was about enterprise systems, systems that span across multiple departments in a company. It was then broken down into supply chain management and customer relationship management systems. I learned that supply chain management systems include a company's upstream chain including their suppliers, their secondary suppliers (suppliers' suppliers), and their tertiary suppliers (suppliers' suppliers' suppliers). The company's downstream chain may include their distributors, retailers, and customers. These supply chains can be big or small depending on the kind of business a company does and how they approach that business. Supply chain management systems analyzes the date that flows through this chain and provides solutions to keep costs down, inventory not too high or too low, and keep the demands of the customers met. I also learned that customer relationship management systems look at the relationship with the companies customers and devises solutions on how to gain a higher intimacy with that customer and how to push products to the right people to raise profits. Overall I learned from this chapter that enterprise systems can be very helpful to companies. However, I also learned that they are often expensive, hard to implement, and only useful for certain business. That was my ninth week in Organizations, Applications, and Technology. It was a very hard week for me with all this midterm preparation at the same time but I believe I did my best and that my efforts were satisfactory for not only the class but for myself as well. I hope you enjoyed the reading!

Chapter 8

    After going over my past blogs, I'm glad to see they show how I am learning. I believe I have learned so much and gained an understanding of how businesses work and the systems that allow those businesses to operate. I have learned some technical things such as the components of networking and computing. For the most part I don't think theres anything about the way I am studying or completing assignments that needs to change. The one thing that I may want to change is getting my assignments done a little bit earlier. So far I haven't had any late assignments but they do get close sometimes.
    This week I read Chapter 8. We talked about the chapter and took a quiz over it on Tuesday. Then on Thursday we went over the Case Study in this chapter which was about one of the biggest data theft in history. Some guys hacked into TJX networks outside TJX stores who didn't have firewalls set, no encryption, and sent financial information over the wireless network. They were able to gain 45 million credit and debit card numbers. We also went over commonly missed questions on the midterm and how the grading was done. Along with all that, I worked with my group to get our Precampaign Report done for our Google AdWords challenge and submitted that on the student dashboard and on Blackboard.
    This week I read the chapter over network security. I learned that every network can be unsecure and has a potential to be hacked or tapped into. Hackers/Crackers use all sorts of programs to obtain information, stop a system, or slow down a system until it is no longer useful. They can do this through the use of viruses, sniffer programs, and worms along with some other means of access into networks. I learned that a very unsecure network is a wireless network because of the ease of being in range to connect to the router and being able to gain access more easily than hard line networks. I also learned that there are plenty of countermeasures for these risks. Firewalls, encryption, and password protocols such as WPA all can stop unauthorized access into a network. That wraps up this blog, like always I hope you enjoyed.

Week 7 Midterm and Chapter 4

    This week I studied for the midterm. Then I took the midterm on Tuesday with a 3X5 index "cheat sheet." Then I read chapter 4 on Wednesday and took the online quiz, and got a 100. On Thursday in class we went over the chapter which was basically over ethics. Finally today I am writing my blog for the week.
    This week I learned about ethics with information systems. We learned about how to go about deciding if an action is ethical for yourself, everyone else, and the company. We learned about liability and responsibility as well. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot of terms or concepts that I learned about. That is pretty much it for this blog. I know it is kind of short but that's how the week went in CIST 3100. Hope you enjoyed.

Chapter 7

    My stance on net neutrality is that it a right for everyone. It's true that some things the internet is being used for aren't necessary. It is the fact that it can be used for anything that makes the internet so profitable. If there is one thing that I have learned in this class, it is that advertisements on "non-necessary" sites pay for a great deal of business' expenses. If there were restrictions set on the priority of importance, anyone who wants to use the internet for recreational uses, most likely the primary "clickers" of those ads will have slower access. This could lead to them getting upset and using the internet less often and less clicks on those advertisements leading to less profits for companies utilizing that. In that sense, it is a lose-lose situation for the general public and businesses. Priority regulations would basically turn the internet into mostly a business tool taking away one of the biggest forms of entertainment for millions of people. This is why I believe that net neutrality should stay intact because if it does not, we will be moving backwards in terms of the internet.
    This week I skimmed the chapter (read paragraphs with bold print words) and then we took a paper quiz on Tuesday. We then listened to the TA (I can't remember his name) talk about all the different networking terms from the chapter. After that we broke up into groups and each talked about a topic of networking  explaining what it was, what the advantages are, and what some possible challenges would be. On Thursday we listened to the lecture while using clickers to answer questions. I really liked how that went and I would like to do that again since I'm not much of an outgoing person in the classroom. Technically I didn't accomplish this task, but Justin sent in the letter from Google getting formal permission from our company to do the group project. Finally, today I am typing out my journal for week 6.
    This week was a wealth of knowledge for me. I have always wanted to know what a lot of these networking terms we have discussed meant, but didn't want to take the time to individually look up every one of them. Just some of the terms that I learned are TCP/IP which stands for Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol, the set of rules used to define the way data moves from one place to another, TCP being the entire length and IP being the movement between nodes.Another important term I got a better understanding of was IP addresses. IP addresses are used to specify a device to which information or data is sent to. An IP address consists of four strings of numbers ranging from 0-255. We as a world community have actually run out of IP addresses and must now implement IPv6 which adds more strings and numbers to make over a quadrillion addresses. That is where I will wrap this blog up. There are many other terms that I have learned this week but those two were the most interesting to me and was something I have wanted to know for a while.

Chapter 6

    The IRS is gaining ground on finding tax fraud more efficiently than previous years. After looking at the 1040 individual tax return there are numerous checks to help catch and prevent loop holes in the system that are causing the government revenue. The first thing I noticed was the two options for married couples filing together or separately. This makes the tax payer to put down the social security number, most likely the primary key in a query, of their spouse filing separately so that they may not both claim their children as dependents. Second, they chose to once again include the social security number of every person being claimed as a dependent. They once again can use this to verify that they are actually supposed to be claimed to the tax payer. Honestly anything after that starts to get too complicated for me to understand what they are trying to find out.
    The IRS had a few issues that they had to deal with when it came to the system for tax collecting, analyzing, and auditing. A management issue that could have been addressed was creating a flexible queries to make finding information in the database easier for employees and expediting the process of auditing. An organizational issue that they needed to deal with was to form policies to help managers and other workers better interpret whether the tax payer in question made a mistake or was trying to commit fraud. The implementation of these policies didn't necesarryily reduce the number of audits significantly, but it did reduce the amount of unnecessary audits on good people who just made a mistake. A technological issue that they obviously faced was the upgrade from the old database to the new database warehouse. They had to replace their old information storage, tapes, and replace them with much more effecient and less space consuming "network-attached storage applicances." They had to find the personnel to monitor the status of the servers as well as a location to keep the servers.
    This week I read chapter 6 and the case study on the terrorist watch list. We took a clicker quiz on thursday and discussed the case study. I also collaborated with my group on our project and on the business proposal that is due tomorrow. Finally, I read the case study on the IRS and am now completing the blog for this week.
    This week we learned about databases. We learned that databases make it easy for a business to keep track of alot of information, attributes, for a particular person/item, record, along with numerous other people, a field. We learned about the up-keep for these databases such as data cleansing, checking and fixing data redundancy; normalization, creating small tables that are more useful and less confusing that every piece of information about a subject; and data quality audit, which is a check to make sure that the information entered into the database is complete and correct. We learned about data mining which is finding out information that was not really being looked for. An example we learned about was the realationship between beer and diapers. As is turns out as sales for diapers went up, so did sales for beer. This is information that could be helpful and utilized for profit or efficiency.That pretty much wraps up this weeks chapter. Thanks for reading!

Week Four Chapter 5

    Selecting computer hardware and software is an important management decision because the IT department of any modern company is the foundation to it just like the now famous analogy of a cement foundation to a house. The IT department is the basis for all of the business' information systems (IS). They are the back end processes that keep companies as efficient and low cost as they are today. The company wants to make sure they select the hardware and software that is the best combination of lowest cost and most efficient/convenient. 

    Things to think think about when it comes to management is how easy the hardware and software is going to be to keep their people connected and synchronized. Another thing from the managerial point of view may also be reliability. The job of management is to make sure that every process is going smoothly and to plan and/or policy. They want the most reliable technology to keep from having to deal with crisis often.

    Choosing hardware and software on the basis of cost is more of an organizational issue. The lower that a business can get, install, house, and keep up the hardware and software, the more profit that is to be made. The second thing while thinking about the organization is how the different hardware and software may impact on the layers of the organization. If a technology can remove a layer of lower or middle management and "flatten" the organization the easier, quicker, and more efficient they can be at providing their service or product.

    Issues to be considered when talking about technology would be if the hardware and software is up-to-date but not too advanced. The hardware and software should be old enough that it can be run on most machines but not too out-of-date that it cannot complete necessary functions. Another issue concerning technology is what is the main purpose it is supposed to perform. A company doesn't want a software that has so much extra functionality that they paid for but can't utilize and they don't want to under spend and have software and hardware that can't handle their workload.

    This week I read chapter 5 and the case study for Salesforce.com and completed the assignment which was in place of a clicker or paper quiz this week. My group is still in the process of finding a company to use for our Google Ad project. That is something that I didn't get done but need to. I also am completing the weekly journal for this week. Those are all the tasks I completed/ didn't complete for this week.

    This week we learned more about technology instead of organization. We learned about the history of hardware and software and their advancement through the years. We talked about Moore's Law which basically says that technology doubles in every aspect about every 18 months. We went over IT infrastructure which includes:

Computer HW Platforms including servers, mainframes, and client machines, Operating System Platforms which manages files and controls the hardware what to do, Enterprise SW Applications which work across departments, Data Management and Storage which is just means where the data is stored, Network and Telecommunications which enables easy transfer of information, Internet Platforms like intranets, extranets, and the internet, and Consulting Systems Integration which links the systems together to work. We also went over different contemporary hardware platform trends such as cloud computing and the mobile digital platform. That is what I learned from class this week from the very informative class we had on Tuesday.

Third Week, Third Chapter

    One of the two environmental factors that has a negative effect on Apple in the tablet industry would definitely be competitive rivalry.Apple's tablets are basically the iPhone and the iPad. There are three very big competitors in this area. Google has come out with the new android powered phones which mimic, if not out-perform, Apple's iPhone. Samsung has just come out with the Galaxy Tab. The Galaxy Tab is a straight knock off of the iPad just a little bit different design. Then there is also the famous Microsoft who came out with the Zune and Zune HD, both internet enabled, app running, and music playing; however it is not a phone as well so it is not as threatening to Apple but it is a challenge to Apple as it's Microsoft's way of saying whatever you can make we can do as well. An environmental factor that is positive for Apple in this industry is with customers. The amount of people buying electronic gadgets for their convenience, necessity, or just because there cool is growing. This helps Apple in the tablet industry because it is a new fad to have a gadget that can run apps, games, view documents, surf the internet, and etc. This is very good for Apple business. Apple's competitive strategy is to have the newest, best, and most innovative technology available. As per the article states, Apple has their new designs planned out two to maybe three years in advance and are constantly improving the old tablets and gadgets they have come out with. With this strategy they will only stay on top if they can keep coming up with the next best thing.
    This week we learned all about what exactly an organization is and what things affect and shape them. We also discussed disruptive technologies that can take a company out of the game if they don't know how to adapt to the new technology. One of the things that can impact the organization is transaction costs which are the costs of having to buy the material or services that the organization cannot produce themselves. Another way IT impacts the organization is that it flattens, or creates fewer levels of administration and management in the organization which in turn brings down costs. After that we learned about the ties between task, people, structure, and technology. Any change in one of those aspects will have an effect on one or more of the other ones. Like in the discussion in class if a company changes how it takes tracking orders from phones to online, they can take out most of the phone department, structure, and switch the people from phone answering to online help/chatting, task. The next important thing we learned this week was the competitive forces model. This model can help businesses decide if a market is worth trying to get into. it focuses on the five aspects that could either be beneficial or non-beneficial. It includes competitive rivalry, such as google and yahoo; customers, how many people are actually interested in this product or service; suppliers, if there are sufficient amount of people to get supplies from; new market entrances, whether or not the market is easy to get into or the ability to get into it at all; substitutes, if there are other alternatives, such as an alternative to online gaming like Bazinga is reading a book. All of these things together can show if it is a good/easier market to get into or if it will be difficult and take alot of work. The last thing is the business value chain. This chain consists of primary and secondary activities.    
The primary activities deal with production and distribution as where secondary activities are more administering type things.
    This week I took a clicker quiz, which I think I did pretty decent on. We started talking about our group project in my group. We had a company but then it turned out that it was no longer running so now we have to find another one which I'm sure we can do. The last thing I did, probably at the last possible minute (not a good choice) is this blog. And that about wraps it up.

Carson Frank

Second week blog

The business process I am choosing to talk about is the way American Express goes about extending credit card offers to people. First an individual buys some sort of goods somehow. Then the stores or businesses that they bought the goods from sells a list of those people to the credit card company. The credit card company gets the list and send out "offers" to those who are over 18 who have a good enough credit score. The cards they send out to people are not a guarantee that they will be approved for any amount on that card. American Express could implement a better information system to improve this process. Instead of sending out offers to people without knowing much about them, they should have a system to check people's backgrounds and if they currently have a back account anywhere thats been kept up for at least a year. This would filter out a bit of the people who are most likely to throw those offers in the trash.
This process does fall into the different systems that we discussed this week. An example of the process that would fall into the TPS could be the number of offers sent out and the number of call backs on a day to day basis. Going into another system, the MIS, the weekly or monthly list of people eligible for the offers would be an example of this type of system. The very instance of the article that we read is a great example of something that would fall into the DSS. It's not very common that a three year old girl gets a credit card offer and so then there must be a system to figure out stipulations on how to handle those uncommon situations. In the ESS, a report on the total numbers of offers being sent out and offers being accepted to help decisions about how to change the offers to make them more efficient.
This week I read chapter 2 and took an assessment in class over it. We discussed chapter 2 and I handed in my signed Plagiarism Statement. I read the case study on Jet Blue and the huge incident that happened in 2007 and then we discussed that on Thursday. We also got into our groups, which I already know the people in mine. And now I'm finishing up this weeks work by completing this blog on what we did this week.
This week we learned more about business processes and how they are basically how companies get a certain thing done. We discussed how any company most likely has many, many business processes that include: TPS (Transaction Processing Systems) on a day to day basis, MIS (Management Information Systems) on a weekly or monthly basis, DSS (Decision Support Systems) for uncommon and rare cases that occur, and the ESS (Executive Support System) on a yearly basis or on a time line big enough to help decisions about modifying long term plans. There is also the Enterprise Systems which are basically systems that spread across many different departments and systems.
Thats it for my second blog, hope you enjoyed it Dr. Petter!

Blog numero uno (first week)

I just want to start out by saying that this is my first blog ever. My name is Carson Frank. My major is Computer Science and I am a sophomore. Technology interests me because ever since it came out there have been so many innovations that came with it. It made anything it really touched more convenient. Technology evolves at what seems like an increasing rate and that is what fascinates me. When I graduate I would like a job as a computer programmer or a teacher. My ability to learn a little about a lot quickly is probably my biggest strength. My weaknesses include researching and probably my inability to efficiently work well with others. If I think I know how to do something I am very stubborn and will always try my way first. The way I work is weird. I mostly procrastinate when it comes to homework. I almost always get it done but I just wait until I have to do it and it seems to work because then I don't allow any distractions because I know it HAS to get done. If I were asked to learn a new technology or skill my only reaction is, "Give me enough time and I will have it down!" My goals for this class include passing, of course, with realistically an 'A' or 'B+'. I also expect to learn quite a bit about business structure which has already, after two days, helped me in my job at a corporate IT department job. So far I have set up my blog, in the progress of blogging, formed a group possibly with *****Justin Jones and Li Li*** I have not yet read the syllabus or signed the plagiarism sheet yet but I will get to it before Tuesday. This week we were all introduced to our teacher Dr. Stacie Petter. Then we learned the difference between Data and Information and Knowledge which are interrelated. Data is the first link, Information, formed from many many instances of data put together to mean something, is the second link, and the last link is Knowledge or what we can take away from what the information tells us. We also took our first clicker quiz, which I only missed one question on. I believe it was on the question of why a business implicates a new IT system. The last thing we did really was put an actual instance of the UPS into the concepts we learned. That is all for now, see you in class on Tuesday Dr. Petter!