data

information

business intelligence

knowledge

-raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event or object

-not very useful for seeing how business is performing as a whole

-data converted into a meaningful and useful context

-the bess, worst customers etc etc

-info collected from multiple sources(suppliers, customers, competitors, partners, and industries) that analyze patterns, trends and relationships for strategic decision making

- set strategic direction of comp to remain profitable

-ex- use competitors, weather, holidays, even sporting events (internal and external factors)

-skills, experience, and expertise coupled with info and intelligence (and intuition) 

- creates a person's intellectual resources

-ex-don't fire worker for low numbers, they were on medical leave

a collection of parts that link to achieve a common purpose

ex- a car

a way of monitoring the entire system by viewing multiple inputs being processed or transformed to produce output while continuously gathering feedback on each part

-input, process, output (each part getting feedback)

-consider the whole process, not just a single component

-business function like acct and HR

-moves info about people, products, and processes across the company

-facilitates decision-making and problem-solving

-incorporates systems thinking to help comps operate cross-functionally

sales moves a single customer order across all functional areas (sales, order fullfillment, shipping, billing, and customer service)

-different parts but with MIS to the customer the sale is one continuous process

a feature of a product or service on which customers place a greater value than they do on similar offerings from competitors

-temporary, because competitors usually see them and copy them

-the 5 forces model (evaluating industry attractiveness)

-the 3 generic strategies(for choosing a business focus)

-value chain analysis(for executing business strategies)

analyzes the competitive forces within the environment in which a comp operates to access the potential for profitability in an industry

- threat of substitute products/services

-supplier power

-buyer power

-threat of new entrants

-rivalry among existing competitors

-the power of customers to drive down prices

ex- many airlines for buyers to choose from forcing competition based on price (price wars)

-grocery stores

switching cost- manipulating costs that make customers reluctant to switch to another product

loyalty program- rewards customers based on the amount of business they do with a particular organization

-supplier's ability to influence the prices they charge for supplies

supply chain- consists of all parties involved in the procurement of a product or raw material (suppliers-->company-->customers)

limited number of plane and engine manufactures to choose from along with unionized workers

-planes and workers

-horizon, whole food organic milk, organic valley

high when there are many alternatives to a product or service

low when there are few alternatives

threat of substitute product/services

example

many substitutues including cars, trains, and buses

even substitutes to travel such as video conferencing and virtual meetings

-juice substituting milk

high when it's easy for new competitors to enter a market and low when there are significant entry barriers

-entry barrier- feature of a product or service that customers have come to expect and entering competitors must offer the same for survival

- many new airlines entering the market all the time including the latest sky taxis

high when competition is fierce in a market and low when competitors are more complacent

product differentiation- occurs when a comp develops unique differences in its products or services with the intent to influence demand

broad cost leadership 

broad cost differentiation

focused strategy

broad- large market

focused-small market unique market

leadership- low cost

differentiation- high cost

views a firm as a series of business process that each add value to the product or service

primary and support activities

more production activities

inbound logistics

operations

outbound logistics

marketing and sales

service

more involved in company activities

infrastructure

human resource management

technology development

procurement

strategic

managerial

operational

-employees develop, control and maintain core business activities required to run the day-to-day operations

-structured decisions

- ex- payroll, order entry

-situations where established processes offer potential solutions

used by operational

employees evaluate company operations to identify adapt to, and leverage change

-semistructured decisions- occur in situations in which a few established processes help to evaluate potential solutions

-ex- data analysis

-managers develop overall strategies, goals, and objectives

-unstructured decisions- occurs in situations in which no procedures or rules exist to guide decision makers toward the correct choice

-ex- outlooks

measurements that evaluate results to determine whether a project is meeting its goals

critical success factors

key performance indicators

Critical success factors

CSFs

crucial steps companies make to achieve their goals and objectives and to implement strategies

-steps taken to achieve goal

 -create, retain, reduce, increase, hire

-the action

key performance indicators

KPIs

-quantifiable metrics a comp uses to evaluate progress toward critical success factors

-measures the progress

-turnover rates

-number of

-average

-internal or external

the proportion of the market that a firm captures

-internal KPI

-indicates the earning power of a project

-internal KPI

transaction processing system (TPS)- basic business system that serves the operational level and assists in making structured decisions

online transaction processing(OLTP)- capturing of transaction and event info using tech to process, store, and update

source doc- original transaction record

online analytical processing (OLAP)- manipulation of info to create business intelligence in support of strategic decision making 

decision support system (DSS)- models info to supports managers and business professionals during the decision-making process 

-used to discover trends, patterns, and exception conditions

What-if analysis

Sensitivty analysis

goal-seeking analysis

optimization analysis

executive info system- specialized DSS that supports senior level executives within the organization

-granularity

-visualization

-digital dashboard

refers to the level of detail in the model or the decision-making process

fine at bottom to coarse at top

-consolidation- the aggregation of data from simple roll-ups to complex grouping of interrelated info- office, state, regional

-drill-down- enables users to view details, and details of details monthly, weekly, daily, hourly

-slice and dice- ability to look at info from different perspectives

expert system

neural network

genetic algorithms

intelligent agents

virtual reality

-category of AI

-computerized advisory programs that imitate the reasoning processes of experts in solving difficult problems

-most common

AI category

- attempts to emulate the way the human brain works

- large amounts of info establish patterns etc.

-fuzzy logic- mathematical method of handling imprecise or subjective info (washing machines)

-AI category

-mimics the evolutionary, survival-of-the-fittest process to generate increasingly better solutions to a problem

-combo of inputs that gives the best outputs 

AI category

-special-purpose knowledge-based info system that accomplishes specific tasks on behalf of its users

-shopping bot- software that searches several retailer websites to provide a comparison of each retailers offerings including price and availability

-AI category

-computer-simulated environment, simulation or either a real world or an imaginary world

-helps manager envision how the ENTIRE company operates

-wouldn't be able to complete activities without them

-transforms inputs into outputs

-encourage conciseness and accuracy

-provide a powerful process analysis and consistent design vocab

-can help find bottlenecks, remove redundant tasks, and recognize smooth-running processes

-helps choose the MIS that supports that business

-results in a product or service being received by organizations external customer

-fulfilling orders, communicating with customers, and sending out bills and marketing info

-invisible to the external customer but essential to the effective management of the business

-goal-setting, cash-flow analysis, insurance claim, planning

activity of creating a detailed flow chart or process map of a work process

-shows the process' inputs, tasks, and activities in a structured sequence

graphic description of a process, shows the sequence of process tasks

-As-Is process model

-To-Be process model

As-Is process models

vs 

To-Be process models

As-Is- represents the current state of the operation that has been mapped, without any specific improvements or changes to existing processes

To-Be- shows the result of applying change improvement oppurtunities to the current (As-Is) process model

-shows HOW the WHAT is to be realized

attempts to understand and measure the current process and make performance improvements accordingly 

-automation

-streamlining

-reengineering

-improving operational business processes

-process of computerizing manual tasks, making them more efficient and effective and dramatically lowering operational costs

-ex- payroll

-improving managerial business processes

-improves business process efficiencies by simplifying or eliminating unnecessary steps

-bottleneck and redundancy

-streamlining

-occurs when resources reach full capacity and cannot and any additional demands

-streamlining

-occurs when a task or activity if unnecessarily repeated

-improving strategic business processes

-analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises

-looks at taking a different path

-ex- BPR mindset instead of changing from scooter to car to get from A to B you would FLY to get to A to B

Central processing unit-computer chips

primary storage-memory cards, RAM

secondary storage-CDs 

input devices- keyboard,scanner

output devices-monitor,printer

communication devices- dial-up, DSL,wireless

controls the application software and manages how the hardware devices work together

-Mac OS X, windows, UNIX

provides additional functionality to the operating system

-includes antivirus, autorecovery,spyware

-personal digital assistant

-laptop

-tablet

-desktop
-workstation

-minicomputer

-mainframe computer

-supercomputer