SOLUTIONS!!
How Did This Stuff Get Here? correct answers • Business processes must work together
• Each business must
- Obtain payment
- Cover costs
- Make profit
• A cup of coffee and a muffin at the Tim Hortons
- Ordering
- Receiving
- Storing
- Paying
Business Process correct answers a series of activities, tasks or steps designed to produce a
product or service
• Sometimes referred to as a business system
example: Inventory management processes → manufacturing processes → sales processes →
customer support processes
What Is a Business Process? correct answers • Sales and inventory elements are often
considered part of the "supply chain"
• Managing inventory is a business process, with the goal of ensuring enough inventory to
fulfill customer requests, but not to much so that goods could spoil
• inventory management balances demands of customers with inventory purchased
• Purchasing is an activity in inventory management
ex: how does a Tim Hortons manager know how much to purchase?
- Inventory management system
- Database collects information (quantity ordered, quantity on hand)
- When stock gets low, inventory management system alerts the manager to re-order
("reorder point")
- Purchase Order is created and sent to supplier
- Supplier receives and ships
business process components correct answers - Activities
- Resources
- Facilities
- Information
Activities correct answers • Activities transform resources and information of one type into
resources and information of another type
• Follow rules and procedures
• Can be manual, automated, or combination
• Example:
- Payment (activity) transforms quantity received (information) and shipping invoice
(information) into supplier payment (resource)
Resources correct answers • items of value
• Can be external to organization
, • Examples: - Cash - Workers - Customers - Suppliers
Facilities correct answers • structures used within the business process
• Resources can be stored within facilities
• Examples: - Factories - Equipment - Inventories
- Databases
Information correct answers • Activities use information to determine how to transform the
inputs received into the outputs produced
• Information created in processes is a key focus on this book.
• Business processes create information
Business Process Modelling Notation correct answers a standard used to document a business
process.
What Is Information? correct answers • Knowledge derived from data
- Data: recorded facts or figures
- How much you earn per hour in your industry = data - The average hourly wage in your
industry = information
• Data presented in a meaningful context
• Processed data
- Processed by summing, ordering, averaging, grouping, comparing, or other similar
operations (that is, we do something to data to produce information)
• A difference that makes a difference
- If you get new information and it does not make a difference to your decision, is what you
received really information?
Characteristics of Good Information correct answers Accurate:
- Based on correct and complete data, processed correctly
- Crucial for management
- Seemingly accurate data can be incorrect: Cross-check information to ensure accuracy
Timely:
- Produced in time for intended use
Relevant:
- To the context
- To the subject
Just Barely Sufficient:
- Sufficient for purpose for which generated
- Do not need additional, extraneous information
- Knowing what information to ignore is difficult
Worth Its Cost:
- Relationship between cost and value
- Information systems cost money to develop, maintain, and use
- Must be worth the cost
Role of Information in Business Processes correct answers Business process of moving actual
goods and providing services to real people:
- Data and information are always created
- For any physical flow, there is potential to capture a flow of information
- For any flows of service, there is potential flow of data and information