WGU C954 KNOWLEDGE CENTER(Opens a new Window) Information Technology Management -

WGU C954 KNOWLEDGE CENTER(Opens a new Window) Information Technology Management - critical success factor (CSF) Crucial steps companies perform to achieve their goals and objectives and implement their strategies. support value activities Found along the top of the value chain and includes business processes, such as firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology development, and procurement that support the primary value activities SWOT analysis Strengths, Weakness, Opportunity, Threats Porter's Five Forces Model threat of substitute products or services, the threat of established rivals, and the threat of new bargaining power of suppliers and the bargaining power of customers. competitive advantage A feature of a product or service that an organization's customers place a greater value on than similar offerings from a competitor Porter's three generic strategies Generic business strategies that are neither organization nor industry specific and can be applied to any business, product, or service. value chain analysis Views a firm as a series of business processes that each add value to the product or service. primary value activities Found at the bottom of the value chain, these include business processes that acquire raw materials and manufacture, deliver, market, sell, and provide after-sales services. effectiveness MIS metric Measures the impact MIS has on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and sell-through increases. Efficiency MIS metrics Measure the performance of MIS itself, such as throughput, transaction speed, and system availability Supply Chain Design The ability to view all areas up and down the supply chain in real time. supply chain planning systems use advanced mathematical algorithms to improve the flow and efficiency of the supply chain while reducing inventory supply chain execution systems ensure supply chain cohesion by automating the different activities of the supply chain Joint Application Development (JAD) A session where employees meet, sometimes for several days, to define or review the business requirements for the system. conversion The process of transferring information from a legacy system to a new system. Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) The overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance SDLC planning phase Involves establishing a high-level plan of the intended project and determining project goals. Analysis Phase of SDLC Involves analyzing end-user business requirements and refining project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system requirements definition document prioritizes all of the business requirements by order of importance to the company Data Flow Diagram (DFD) illustrates the movement of information between external entities and the processes and data stores within the system Design Phase (SDLC) Involves describing the desired features and operations of the system Development Phase (SDLC) Involves taking all of the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforming them into the actual system control objectives for information and related technologies (COBIT) A set of best practices that helps an organization to maximize the benefits of an information system, while at the same time establishing appropriate controls to ensure minimum errors. object-oriented languages group data and corresponding processes into objects fourth-generation language (4GL) A computer language type that includes database query languages and report generators. Testing Phase of SDLC Involves bringing all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to eliminate errors and bugs, and verify that the system meets all of the business requirements defined in the analysis phase implementation phase sldc Involves placing the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with the system. Maintenance Phase (SDLC) involves performing changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet the business goals SDLC Phases planning, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation, and maintenance discovery prototyping builds a small-scale representation or working model of the system to ensure it meets the user and business requirements iterative development consists of a series of tiny projects