Reporting Applications

• Reporting application inputs data from one or more sources and applies a reporting tool to that data to produce information. This is then delivered to users by reporting system.

• Operations commonly used:– Sorting– Grouping– Calculating– Filtering– Formatting

Analytical Tools

• RFM Analysis – ranks information according to purchasing behavior – gives customers an RFM Score (1 – 5, 1 being the top 20%)– How Recently? – How Frequently?– How much Money?

Data Warehouses and Data Marts Address the problems companies have with missing data values and

inconsistent data Help standardize data formats between operational data and data

purchased from third-party vendors Prepare, store, and manage data specifically for data mining and

analyses.

Data Marts vs. Data Warehouses

• Data mart is smaller than a warehouse• Data mart addresses a particular component

or function

Data Mining

• Statistical techniques to find patterns and relationships among data and use it for classification and prediction

• Data mining techniques are a blend of statistics and mathematics, and artificial intelligence and machine-learning

What BI Systems are available?• BI System – Information system that employs BI tools

to produce and deliver information• Type of systems depend on tools in use• Categories of tools

– Reporting - Simple• read, process, format, deliver• Used to assess results – What happened?

– Data mining - Sophisticated• Searching for patterns or relationships• Used to make predictions – What will happen?

– Knowledge management• Used to store employee knowledge and make it available to others• Source of data – humans• How do you handle what is happening?

Reporting Applications

• Reporting application inputs data from one or more sources and applies a reporting tool to that data to produce information. This is then delivered to users by reporting system.

• Operations commonly used:– Sorting– Grouping– Calculating– Filtering– Formatting

OLAP – Online Analytical Processing

• More generic than RFM• Dynamic – viewer can change the format• Measures and Dimensions– Measures – data item of interest• Total sales, average sales, average cost, etc.

– Dimension – characteristic of a measure• Purchase date, customer location, etc.

Decision Trees

• Hierarchical arrangement of criteria that predicts a classification or value

• Unsupervised data-mining technique that selects the most useful attributes for classifying entities on some criterion

• If…then rules

Business Process Definitions

• Business Process – network of activities, repositories, roles, resources, and data flows that interact to accomplish a function– Activities – collections of related tasks– Repository – collection of something– Roles – collection of procedures– Resources – people or systems assigned to roles– Data flow – movement of data from one activity

to another, or to a repository, or to a process

Swim Lanes

• Example: page 336 and 337• Each role in the process has its own lane• Activities for each role are in their own swim

lane• Draws attention to interactions among roles

What are the 4 conversion options?

• Pilot – implement whole system with partial group– Failures are contained– Reduced exposure– Damage control – prevents negative reaction

• Phased – install in phases with whole group– Manageable chunks– Can not use this approach for highly integrated systems

• Parallel – run at same time as old system– Expensive for long period– Double work– Testing against another system can be good/bad

• Plunge – dive in and discard old system– Danger if it doesn’t work – Very Risky– Avoid if possible

Business Process Definitions

• Business Process – network of activities, repositories, roles, resources, and data flows that interact to accomplish a function– Activities – collections of related tasks– Repository – collection of something– Roles – collection of procedures– Resources – people or systems assigned to roles– Data flow – movement of data from one activity

to another, or to a repository, or to a process

BPM – Business Process Mgt

• Cyclical process for creating, assessing, and altering business processes

• Continuous improvement• Complexity varies

Diagramming

• Used in modeling business processes• Symbols:– Start– End– Activity– Decision– Data– Process Flow – Message Flow

What are the 4 conversion options?

• Pilot – implement whole system with partial group– Failures are contained– Reduced exposure– Damage control – prevents negative reaction

• Phased – install in phases with whole group– Manageable chunks– Can not use this approach for highly integrated systems

• Parallel – run at same time as old system– Expensive for long period– Double work– Testing against another system can be good/bad

• Plunge – dive in and discard old system– Danger if it doesn’t work – Very Risky– Avoid if possible

Managing Challenges

• Coordination• Diseconomies of Scale• Configuration control• Unexpected Events• Maintaining morale

Functions of IS Department

• Planning the use of information technology to accomplish the organization’s goals and strategy.

• Developing, operating, and maintaining the organization’s computing infrastructure.

• Developing, operating, and maintaining enterprise applications.

• Protecting information assets.• Managing outsourcing relationships.

Scope of Outsourcing

User Rights and Responsibilities

Typical Operations Department

Risks of Outsourcing

Threats to Information Security

• Human error and mistakes• Malicious human activity• Natural events and disasters

More info…• Human Error and Mistakes– Could be employee or non-employee– Poorly written programs or procedures– Data entry errors– Misuse– Physical mistake (ex. Unplugging something)

• Malicious Activity– Could be employee, former employee, or hacker– Breaking into systems to steal/damage– Introducing worms or viruses– Terrorism

Identification and Authentication

– Includes passwords (what you know), smart cards (what you have), and biometric authentication (what you are).

– Often more secure, and easier, to establish a single sign-on for multiple systems.

• Wireless systems pose additional problems Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)-first developed Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)-more secure Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2)-newest and most secure

Problems and Sources

Five Technical Safeguards• For Hardware and Software components of

Info System

Other Technical Safeguards

• Firewall– Should be installed on every computer connected

to a network, especially the internet

• Malware protection– Protects from spyware and adware– Symptoms of a PC with spyware or adware

installed

Human Safeguards – In House Employees