Week 12- Project Management

Project Management

1. Explain the triple constraint and its importance in project management.

The triple constraint involves making tradeoffs between scope, time and cost for a project.  It is inevitable in a project life cycle that there will be changes to the scope, time or cost of the project. A successful project is typically on time, within budget, meets the business’ requirements, and fulfills the customer’s needs

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There is a high failure rate in IT projects between 30 to 70 per cent due to late delivery, exceeding budget, or not delivering what was agreed upon

Increased Scope  = increased time +  increased cost

Tight Time = increased costs + reduced scope

Tight Budget = increased time + reduced scope.

Organisations routinely over-schedule their resources (human and otherwise), develop redundant projects and damage profitability by investing non-strategic effort that do not contribute to the organisations bottom line. Therefore, the triple constraints are important in project management as it offers a strategic framework for co-ordinating the numerous activities associated with organisational projects.

2. Describe the two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planningPERT chart (program evaluation and review technique) is a graphical model that depicts a projects task and the relationship between those tasks. A dependency is a logical relationship that exists between the project tasks, or between a project task and a milestone. PERT charts define dependency between projects tasks before those task are scheduled. The critical path is a path from the start to finish that passes through all the tasks that are critical to completing the project in the shortest amount of time.

Example of PERT chart:

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Gantt chart is a simple bar chart that depicts the projects task against a calendar. In a Gantt chart, tasks are listed vertically and the projects time frame is listed horizontally. A Gantt chart works well for representing the project schedule. It also shows actually progress of tasks against the planned duration.

 Example of gantt chart:

3. Identify the three primary areas a project manager must focus on managing to ensure success

Managing People - managing people is one of the hardest and most critical tasks a project manager undertakes. Resolving conflicts within the team and balancing the needs of the project with the personal and professional needs of the team are two of the challenges facing project managers.  Project managers not only need to ‘manage’ the stakeholders and the project, they need to manage the development team.

Managing Communication-while many companies develop unique project management frameworks based in familiar project management standards, or adopt specific methodologies such as PRINCE, all of them agree that communication is the key to excellent project management. It is extremely helpful is a project manager plans what and how he or she will communicate as a formal part of the project management plan. A project manager distributes timely, accurate and meaningful information regarding project objectives that involve time, scope , cost and quality, and the status of each.

Managing Change –

 Change management – a set of techniques that aid in evolution, composition, and policy management of the design and implementation of a system

Change management system – a collection of procedures to document a change request and define the steps necessary to consider the change based on the expected impact of the change

Change control board (CCB) – responsible for approving or rejecting all change requests

4. Outline 2 reasons why projects fail and two reasons why projects succeed.

Reasons why projects fail:

- Unrealistic expectations – expectations are too high therefore it is hard to aim project tasks at a hard level when

- Lack of project management – have no time, scope or costs

Reasons why projects succeed:

- Good project charter – organised, and knows where the project is heading

- Good communication- can communicate well between project team, to get the task done efficiently and effectively within the time scope and cost.

Week 10 - Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Business Intelligence (BI)

1. What is your understanding of CRM?

Customer relationship management (CRM) – involves managing all aspects of a customer’s relationship with an organisation to increase customer loyalty and retention and an organisation's profitability. CRM helps companies make their interactions with customers seem friendlier through individualization.

2. Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.

Operational CRM supports traditional transactional processing for day-to-day front-office operations or systems that deal directly with the customers.

Analytical CRM supports back-office operations and strategic analysis and includes all systems that do not deal directly with the customers

The primary difference between operational CRM and analytical CRM is the direct interaction between organisations and its customers.

3. Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by marketing departments and sales departments

Marketing department CRM technologies-

- List generators: compiles customer information from a variety of sources and segment the information for different marketing campaigns

- Campaign management system: guides users through marketing campaigns

- Cross-selling and up-selling:

      Cross-selling – selling additional products or services
      Up-selling – increasing the value of the sale

Sales department CRM technologies-

- Sales management- automomate each phase of the sales process, helping individual sales representatives co-ordinate and organise all of their accounts

- Contact management- maintains customer contact information and identifies prospective customers for future sales. E.g. - maintaining organisational charts.

- Opportunity management-target sales opportunities by finding new customers or companies for future sales

4. How could a sales department use operational CRM technologies?

By implementing Sales management CRM systems, contact management CRM systems eg increase managements visibility of the sales process, and opportunity management CRM systems by gaining prospective customers.

5. Describe business intelligence and its value to businesses

Business intelligence (BI) – applications and technologies used to gather, provide access to, and analyze data and information to support decision-making efforts. BI includes simple MS Excel Pivot tables to highly sophisticated software that fetches data from the different front-and back-office systems.

Many Businesses are finding that they must identify and meet the fast-changing needs and wants of different customer segments in order to stay competitive in today’s consumer-centric market. BI can tell companies things like;

- Determine who is the best and worst customer’s thereby gaining insight into where it needs to concentrate more for its future sales

- Identify exceptional sales people

- Determine whether or not campaigns have been successful

- Determine in which activity they are making or losing money

6. Explain the problem associated with business intelligence. Describe the solution to this business problem

Companies can have a lot of data, however they are not able to benefit from levering this information and turning it into useful data for analytical and strategic decision making.

The issue most organisations are facing today is that it is next to impossible to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, let alone their enemies, because the enormous amount of organisational data is inaccessible to all but the IT department. The problem: data rich, information poor

The solution: to improve the quality of business decisions, managers can provide existing staff with BI systems and tools that can assist them in making better, more informed decisions. The result creates an agile intelligent enterprise, a few examples of using BI to make informed business decisions include:

- Retail and sales – predicting sales; determining correct inventory levels and distributions schedules among outlets; and loss prevention

- Banking- forecasting levels of bad loans and fraudulent credit card use, credit card spending by new customers and which kind of customers will best respond to (and quality for) new loan offers

- Operation management- predicting machinery failures; finding key factors that control optimisation of manufacturing capacity.

7. What are two possible outcomes a company could get from using data mining?

Single point of access to information for all users- organizations can unlock information held within their databases by giving authorised users a single point of access to data.

BI across organizational departments-all departments across an organization from sales to operations to customer services can benefit from the value of BI

Week 9 - Operations Management & Supply Chain Management

1. Define the term operations management

Operations management (OM) - the management of systems or processes that convert or transform resources into goods and services

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2. Explain operations management’s role in business

Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements. It is concerned with managing the process that converts inputs (in the forms of materials, labor, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and/or services).

3. Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology

An integrated system is the only way to have a consistent view of the data and provide up to the minute results—on a company-wide basis. By automating the most important business practices, business will be able to work more efficiently, reduce overhead, increase agility, and improve insight into business processes

4. Explain supply chain management and its role in a business

Supply Chain Management (SCM) involves the management of information flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximize total supply chain effectiveness and profitability. Its role in business is that customers order from retailers, who in turn order from distributors, who in turn order from manufacturers, who in turn order from suppliers. The supply chain also includes transportation companies, warehouses, and inventories and some means for transmitting messages and information among the organizations involved.

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5. List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain

Plan- this is the strategic portion of the supply chain management.  Company must have a plan for managing all the resources that go toward meeting customer demand for products or services. A big piece of planning is developing a set of metrics to monitor the supply chain that is efficient, costs less, and delivers high quality and value to customers.

Source- companies must carefully choose reliable suppliers that will deliver goods and services required for making products.  Companies must also develop a set of prices, delivery, and payment processes with suppliers and create metrics for monitoring and improving relationships

Make- this is the step where companies manufacture their products or services. This can include scheduling and the activities necessary for production, testing, packaging, and preparing for delivery. This is by far the most metrics- intensive portion of the supply chain, measuring quality levels, production output and worker productivity.

Deliver- this step is commonly referred to as logistics. Logistics is the set of processed that plans for and controls the efficient and effective transportation and storage of supplies from suppliers to customers. During this step, companies must be able to receive orders from customers, fulfill the orders via a network of warehouses, pick transportation companies to deliver the products, and implement a billing and invoicing system to facilitate payments.

Return- this is typically the most problematic step in the supply chain. Companies must create a network for receiving defective and excess products and support customers who have problems with delivered products.

6. Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain.

Information technology is becoming increasingly important to allow the valuable sharing of info o that all stake holders can become aware of those tasks that are allocated to particular share holders to achieve the delivery of the goods or services.

An example of I.T is ERP.  SAP is an example of ERP which allows documentation recording and visualization to stake holders across the value chain.

1.       Explain the business benefits of using wireless technology.

Success of wireless technology has resulted in a unique opportunity for innovation and creativity in technology, marketing, and business strategy. Universal accesses to information and applications- People are mobile ad have more access to information than ever before. Automation of business processes- Wireless technologies have the ability to centralize critical information and eliminate redundant processes. User convenience, timelessness and ability to conduct business 24/7, 365 days a year- through wireless tools and wireless solutions such as blackberry RIM or iPhone device, they can access their information anywhere, anytime  

2.       Describe the business benefits associated with VoIP

VOIP enables phone calls, faxes, voice mail, e-mail and Web conferences over digital networks. It saves money in three ways; VOIP runs over the existing computer network, calls over the internet do not attract Telecommunications charges and customers can port their numbers between carriers

3.       Compare LANs and WANs

Local area networks (LANs) connect computers that reside in a single geographic location on the premises of the company that operates the LAN whereas wide area networks (WANs) – connect computers at different geographic sites.

4.       Describe RFID and how it can be used to help make a supply chain more effective.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) are tags that use radio waves to transmit data. RFID is heavily used in Inventory tracking, they will eventually replace barcodes. There are two types of RFID; passive RFID and Active RFID. Passive RFID has no internal power and can pick up the very faint signal from an antenna. It can power up just enough to transmit data back to antenna and can also store small amount of EPROM data. These can be mass produced at very low cost. Active RFID have power and transmit much stronger and accurate data.
RDIS can be used to help make a supply chain more effective, for example RFID’s have automated the ticketing process in travelling. And in Social Retailing when a consumer tries on a garment, the RFID tells the LCD in the change room to show the garment being worn by a celebrity.

5.       Identify the advantages and disadvantage of deploying mobile technology

Week 7- Databases

1. List, describe, and provide an example of each of the five characteristics of high quality information.

- Accuracy- are all the values correct? eg is the name spelled correctly

- Completeness- Are any of the values missing? eg is the address complete, including street, city, state and postcode

- Consistency- is aggregate or summary information in agreement with detailed information? eg do all total feields equal the true total of the indivual feilds

- Uniqueness- is each transaction, entity and event represented only once in the information? eg are there aby duplicated customers

- Timeliness- is the information current with respect to the business requirements? eg is information updated weekly, daily, or hourly

2. Define the relationship between a database and a database management system.

3. Describe the advantages an organisation can gain by using a database.

Increased flexibilty- databases tend to mirror business structures, and a good database can handle changes quickly and easily, jsut as any good business needs to be able to handle changes quickly and easily

Increased scalability and performance-some organisations must be able to support hundreds or thousands of online users who all want to access information.

Reduced information redundancy - one primary goal of a database is to eliminate information redundancy by recording each peice of information in only one place in the database. This saves space, makes performing information updates easier and improves information quality.

Increased information security- information is an organisation asset that must be protected

4. Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model.

 Entity- an entity in the realtional database model is a person, place, tihng, transaction or event about which information is stored.

Attributes- also called feilds, or columns, are characterstics or propertiess of an entity class

Keys and relationships- primary key- is a feild that uniquely identifies a given entity in a table

                                      - foreign key- in the relational database model is a primary key of one table that appears as an attribute in another table and acts to provide a logical relationship between the two tables.

5. Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.

6. Describe the roles and purposes of data warehouses and data marts in an organisation

Development - allows the website owner to make changes at any time, all without having to rely on a developer or knowing HTML programming. A well structured, data-driven website enables updating with little or no information or no training.

Future expandability- having a data driven website enables the site to grow faster than would be possible with a static site

Minimising Human Error- A well desgined, data-driven website will have 'error trapping' mechanisms to ensure that required information is filled out correctly and that content is entered and displayed in its correct format.

Cutting production costs- convenient and cuts costs, and updates take fraction of time they would with static site

More efficient- system keep track of templates, so users do not have to

Improved Stability- content is never lost, even if your programmer is.

 A Data warehouse is a logicall colelction of information, gathered from many differnt operational databases, that supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks. The primary purpose of a data warehous is to aggregate information throughout an organisation into a single repository for decision-making purposes

A database is the heart of an organisation, it stores key business information like;

- sales data- cutomer, sales, contacts

- inventory data- orders, stocks, delivery

- student data- names, addresses, grades

All businesses use a database of some type. Effective managers know the value of extracting of important data.

A database management system is a group of programs that manipulate the database, and provide an interface between the database and its users and other application programs

Week 5 - Ethics and Security

1. Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.

 Ethics are the principles and standards that guide our behaviour towards other people. 

2. Describe a situation involving technology that is ethical but illegal.

Making two copies of a software package you purchased and selling a copy to your friend

3. Describe and explain one of the computer use policies that a company might employ

 An ethical computer use policy contains general priniciples to guide computer user behaviour. For example, the ethical computer use policy might explicitly state that users should refrain from playing computer gmes during work hours.

4. What are the 5 main technology security risks?

1. Human error

2. Natural Disasters

3. Technical failures

4. Deliberate acts

5. Management failure

5. Outline one way to reduce each risk.

 For deliberate acts a business can put in system audits to track down maliciouse activity.

6. What is a disaster recovery plan, what strategies might a firm employ?

Disaster recovery is the process of regaining access to computer systems and data after a disaster has taken place. All firms should have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. This plan lists things like a communication plan, alternative sites, hot or warm site for business continuity and location of backup data

       Privacy is a major ethical issue, and a right to privacy is the law. Privacy is the right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own possesions, and not to be observed without your consent.

      Confidentiality is the assurance that messages and information are available only to those who are authorised to view them.

Week 4- Chapter 3 Questions

1.       Why has the web grown so dramatically?

-     The microcomputer revolution made it possible for an average person to own a computer

-     Advancements in networking hardware, software and media made it possible for business PCs to be inexpensively connected to larger networks

-     Browser software such as Microsoft’s internet explorer gave computer users an easy-to-use interface to find, download and display web pages

-     The speed, convenience and low cost of email have made it an indispensible tool for business and personal communications

-    Basic web pages are easy to create and extremely flexible

2.       What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?

Web 2.0 is referred to as the Live Web. Users can collaborate and build their own content. Businesses are using Web 2.0 to enable access to critical business application for employees and customers. e.g. – travellers can share experiences about their experiences; they can recommend or warn others.

It differs from web 1.0 as it is a transformative force that is propelling companies across all industries towards a new way of doing business. Those who act on the web 2.0 opportunity stand to gain an early mover advantage in their markets.

3.       How could a web 2.0 technology be used in business?

Web 2.0 can be used in business when:

-     CEO’s use Blogs to enhance communication, builds trust, supplement press releases and talk from the heart. A content rich blog can enhance the positive image of the company.

-    RSS Feed provide website statistics to managers in real time.

-   RSS could also update potential customers with product updates and company news

4.       What is eBusiness, how does it differ from eCommerce?

e-Business  is the conducting of business on the Internet including, not only buying and selling, but also serving customers and collaborating with business partners where as ecommerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet.

5.       What is pure and partial eCommerce

In traditional commerce all three dimensions are physical. Purely physical organisations are referred to as bricks-and-mortar organisations. In Pure EC all dimensions are digital. Companies engaged only in EC are considered viral (or pure-play) organisations; all other combinations that include a mix of digital and physical dimensions are considered partial EC.

6.       List and describe the various eBusiness models?

B2B-business to business applies to businesses buying from and selling to each other over the internet

B2C-business to consumer applies to any business that sells its products or servies to consumers over the internet.

C2B-Conumer to business applies to any consumer that sells a product or service to a business over the internet

C2C-consumer to business applies to sites primarily offering goods and services to assist consumers interacting with each other over the internet.

7.       List and describe the major B2B models
-     Sell-side-b2b- A Web-based niche marketplace in which one company sells to many business buyers from e-catalogs or auctions, frequently over an extranet
-     Buy-side b2b- A corporate-based acquisition site that uses reverse auctions, negotiations, group purchasing, or any other e-procurement method

8.       Outline 2 opportunities and 2 challenges faced by companies doing business online

Two opportunities faced by companies doing business online are the high accessibility and increased consumer loyalty of online businesses. Businesses can operate 24/7 36 days a year, and additional channels for contacting, responding to and accessing customers help contribute to customer loyalty.  Protecting consumers would be a challenge, as consumers must be protected against unsolicited goods and communication, illegal or harmful goods, insufficient information about their goods, invasion of privacy and cyber fraud. Another challenge would be the increasing liability as e business exposes suppliers to unknown liabilities because internet commerce law is vaguely defined and differs from country to country.