CIS NOTES:
June 29, 2015 START FINAL
A business process is a collection of related activities that create a
product or service. A process has input and outputs and can be
measured. This is important because every process must be
evaluated and we cannot evaluate anything that can’t be measured.
Many processes are cross-functional which means they involve more
than one department in the organization. This can be problematical
because departments in business tend to carve out their own
fiefdoms (power systems). Although we are supposed to work for
the good of the organization because recourses are finite/limited, I
will not want to share what I have with any other department.
Remember in business, personal loyalty always trumps institutional
loyalty. An information system enables business processes. The
information system directs each department as to what they must
fulfill. This eliminates negotiation between departments.
Information system is embedded in the processes as long as the
company is computerized. In the old days, paper orders had to be
keyboarded into the computer. Nowadays, through barcodes and
optical readers, everything is entered into the computer directly.
There is no paper intermediation. The computer system will now
automatically update inventory, costs of good sold, and prepare a
receipt. This type of systems prevents stock outs because inventory is
automatically reordered at the predetermined reorder point.
, This all leads us to business process reengineering (BPR). The aim of
BPR is to fire 95% of your workforce and have the computer system
perform their tasks. Example given: AT&T used to employ 80,000
telephone operator in NYC. AT&T hired a BPR expert who explained
that one super computer could replace these 80,000 workers. AT&T
purchased the super computer and eliminated their jobs. Their stock
went up. ***Point of BPR is to fire people and replace them with
computers (computers make less mistakes quality of work goes up
and costs goes down)
Business process management (BPM) is the watered down version of
BPR. It enables your labor force to work efficiently without
eliminating them. For example, the MTA has put in ticket machine
and has eliminated a few positions selling tickets.
Just like people have to be supervised, our computers have to be
supervised as well. This is called BAM (business activity monitoring).
We ordered our computer systems to catch our programming errors
and to increase efficiency.
Hardware consists of all of our physical computer equipment. When
we purchase hardware we focus on speed, cost, and appropriateness
for the task on hand.
Software consists of all of our computer programs. These programs
are stored on disks and read into RAM when they are ready to be
used.
Firmware It takes time to read instructions into RAM in order to
execute. To save time very popular instructions that are used
repeatedly are sometimes written onto the computer chip itself. The
, computer chip is the brain of the computer. The advantage is that
nothing runs faster. The disadvantage is dedication. That part of the
chip is now dedicated to those instructions and cannot be used for
anything else. This means you will end up paying more money for a
bigger chip.
The major parts of hardware are (1) The central processing unit (2)
primary storage (3) secondary storage (4) input technologies like a
keyboard (5) output technologies like a printer, monitor or screen
(6) Communication technologies like intranet, extranet, internet
and other networks.
The most powerful computers are the supercomputers. Power
means speed. A supercomputer must process faster than one
pedaflop. One pedaflop = 1 thousand trillion floating point
operations per second. Floating point operation is an athematic
operation involving decimals. Your typical supercomputer costs
millions of dollars. Supercomputers are used for military operations
and scientific applications. For instance, the national weather
service uses the super computer to moniter weather conditions all
over the world. The CIA uses a supercomputer to track all of the
phone calls in Russia. At&T uses one to replace telephone operators
nationally. Whenever you are dealing with very large data sets you
need a supercomputer.
Mainframe computers are the standard business computers. One
mainframe will process airline reservations for an entire airline.
Mainframe computers must have a speed of at least a teraflop. A
June 29, 2015 START FINAL
A business process is a collection of related activities that create a
product or service. A process has input and outputs and can be
measured. This is important because every process must be
evaluated and we cannot evaluate anything that can’t be measured.
Many processes are cross-functional which means they involve more
than one department in the organization. This can be problematical
because departments in business tend to carve out their own
fiefdoms (power systems). Although we are supposed to work for
the good of the organization because recourses are finite/limited, I
will not want to share what I have with any other department.
Remember in business, personal loyalty always trumps institutional
loyalty. An information system enables business processes. The
information system directs each department as to what they must
fulfill. This eliminates negotiation between departments.
Information system is embedded in the processes as long as the
company is computerized. In the old days, paper orders had to be
keyboarded into the computer. Nowadays, through barcodes and
optical readers, everything is entered into the computer directly.
There is no paper intermediation. The computer system will now
automatically update inventory, costs of good sold, and prepare a
receipt. This type of systems prevents stock outs because inventory is
automatically reordered at the predetermined reorder point.
, This all leads us to business process reengineering (BPR). The aim of
BPR is to fire 95% of your workforce and have the computer system
perform their tasks. Example given: AT&T used to employ 80,000
telephone operator in NYC. AT&T hired a BPR expert who explained
that one super computer could replace these 80,000 workers. AT&T
purchased the super computer and eliminated their jobs. Their stock
went up. ***Point of BPR is to fire people and replace them with
computers (computers make less mistakes quality of work goes up
and costs goes down)
Business process management (BPM) is the watered down version of
BPR. It enables your labor force to work efficiently without
eliminating them. For example, the MTA has put in ticket machine
and has eliminated a few positions selling tickets.
Just like people have to be supervised, our computers have to be
supervised as well. This is called BAM (business activity monitoring).
We ordered our computer systems to catch our programming errors
and to increase efficiency.
Hardware consists of all of our physical computer equipment. When
we purchase hardware we focus on speed, cost, and appropriateness
for the task on hand.
Software consists of all of our computer programs. These programs
are stored on disks and read into RAM when they are ready to be
used.
Firmware It takes time to read instructions into RAM in order to
execute. To save time very popular instructions that are used
repeatedly are sometimes written onto the computer chip itself. The
, computer chip is the brain of the computer. The advantage is that
nothing runs faster. The disadvantage is dedication. That part of the
chip is now dedicated to those instructions and cannot be used for
anything else. This means you will end up paying more money for a
bigger chip.
The major parts of hardware are (1) The central processing unit (2)
primary storage (3) secondary storage (4) input technologies like a
keyboard (5) output technologies like a printer, monitor or screen
(6) Communication technologies like intranet, extranet, internet
and other networks.
The most powerful computers are the supercomputers. Power
means speed. A supercomputer must process faster than one
pedaflop. One pedaflop = 1 thousand trillion floating point
operations per second. Floating point operation is an athematic
operation involving decimals. Your typical supercomputer costs
millions of dollars. Supercomputers are used for military operations
and scientific applications. For instance, the national weather
service uses the super computer to moniter weather conditions all
over the world. The CIA uses a supercomputer to track all of the
phone calls in Russia. At&T uses one to replace telephone operators
nationally. Whenever you are dealing with very large data sets you
need a supercomputer.
Mainframe computers are the standard business computers. One
mainframe will process airline reservations for an entire airline.
Mainframe computers must have a speed of at least a teraflop. A
