FINAL QUESTION #5

TOPIC: VIRTUAL OFFICE


1. Describe or define Virtual Office.

Virtual office is also a common term for an environment that enables a network of co-workers to run a business efficiently by using nothing other than online communication technologies.^[8]

In the TIC sector, a virtual office is a category of groupware gathering organization, communication and collaboration data centralized on a server. The user accesses data from any devices (PC, laptop, PDA, smartphone, etc..) equipped with a Web and a connection to Internet.

Features

• Universal access - The user can access data in the same way at work, at home, on the road, in a meeting room at the hotel, etc..
• Security - The data are no longer stored on the hard disk of a computer, which can be stolen, lost, be the target of a computer virus, etc.. In case of problems, the data are preserved.
• Opening - While traditional software focus on an organization, the virtual office allows the inter-organization collaboration.
• Location model - Instead of paying a license, the user pays a monthly or annual fee. Some publishers offer a free basic version.

2. Distinguish Virtual office from MIS.

As information technology becomes more pervasive, the structure of the traditional work environment is changing. A number of alternatives are emerging where work is performed at remote locations. Existing work practices and managerial strategies are often not appropriate in this environment. In particular, traditional office communication with coworkers and management, which is often dependent on physical proximity, is disrupted. In this study, individual satisfaction with office communication in the telecommuting and conventional work environments is compared through a study of telecommuters and a comparison group of non-telecommuters in nine firms. We investigate the influence of certain organizational factors, such as job characteristics, IT support, and coordination methods, on satisfaction with office communication in the two work environments. We find telecommuters report higher satisfaction with office communication. Our findings indicate that task predictability, IT support, and electronic coordination have similar influences for both groups. We discuss implications of these findings for research and practice.

3. Illustrate (give examples) how Virtual office can improve company's competitive advantage and organizational performance.

Self-employed indivduals operating as limited liability companies, or small businesses with only a few employees and little to no scope for having areceptionist or other customer service administrators, will often use this service - especially when starting up the business and wanting to create a presence as well as assure that all customer contact is captured. However some large Insurance businesses, with a high count of mobile employees, will have a sophisticated virtual office service that takes and routes calls and messages to employees - and may answer some initial inquiries on behalf of the business. In this latter sense, the virtual office complements working from home (aka "telecommuting") and other forms of remote working where having an office permanently available is not essential to operating a business.

FINAL QUESTION#4

TOPIC: THE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS (DSS)


1. Describe or define DSS.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a specific class of computerized information system that supports business and organizational decision-making activities. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from raw data, documents, personal knowledge, and/or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

www.informationbuilders.com/decision-support-systems-dss.
2. Distinguish DSS from MIS.

Decision support system is a class of computer-based information systems which includes knowledge based systems that support decision making activities. And a Management Information Systems is part of an organization's internal control system. Control systems monitor how actual performance compares with targets, and analyze the factors that caused any deviations.

3. Illustrate (give examples) how DSS can improve company's competitive advantage and organizational performance.

This system have significantly improve the processing of business transactions and created business advantages.In some organization,the search for srategic opportunities remains focused on enhancing business transaction proccessing.Decision support system meets different needs and different purposes.It can provide substantial opportunities for targeting sales efforts, improving stategic control and improving profits.

www.business.com/directory/computers_and_software/computer...it.../decision_support_systems_dss/ - 110

FINAL QUESTION #1


For those who are not working, research one company in the net who is using computerized database systems. Describe the use and/or nature of these systems and describe too the benefits/disadvantages from these systems. Include your reference.

DATABASE SYSTEM CORPORATION/Call Center Technology.Database Systems Corp. (DSC) has been providing data management products and services since 1978. Our customers span a wide range of industries and levels of our government. Our expertise is in computer telephony integration software, IVR applications, predictive dialers and advanced call center software. DSC is a privately held company but we have served quite a few major corporations as well as small businesses. Our customer loyalty and retention over the years by these clients is a source of great pride for our company. Our commitment to develop leading edge technologies will always be there. Our goal is to provide the best products and services for our customers. Database can broadcast emergency notification messages to thousands of households warning of natural disasters such as severe weather warnings. Pre-recorded warning messages can be played providing your community with travel warnings and advising them where to seek shelter.

www.databasesystemscorp.com/

FINAL QUESTION #2


A company may adopt specific computerized database system according to their unique needs after thorough MIS planning. However, it has to be noted that MIS if properly planned, and implemented, benefits can be immeasurable on the other hand, if this is misused, then it may mean information or financial losses and opportunity and resources wasted.

From this, answer the following.

1.0.a Research one international company from the Internet and describe their MIS strategic plan in 1-2 paragraphs.

Vertiflo Pump Company.With the emergence of an expanding interdependent global economy, information systems (IS) strategists need to face the challenges of internationalization. The growth of multinational business has led many corporations to support significantly high level of IS operations and IS applications development in foreign environments.Helping executives/professionals to understand the differences between their own environment and the one in which they must operate can improve their IS functions in this region.

1.0.b Discuss too the impact of this strategic plan on the company's management,
competitors, customers and the company as a whole.

Provides managers with the tools for organizing, evaluating and efficiently running their departments. Provide past, present and prediction information.

2.0.a Evaluate how can this strategic plan be applied to any local company in the Philippines.

MIS can increase productivity and competitiveness.

2.0.b Discuss too the possible effect on the company.

It promotes better communication to the employee and to the management of the company.

3.0.a What is an Accounting Information System?

A subset of management information system (MIS), AIS is responsible for providing timely and accurate financial and statistical reports for internal management decision making, and for external parties such as creditors, investors, and regulatory and taxation authorities.

www.businessdictionary.com/definition/accounting-information-system-AIS.html - 26k -

3.0.b Identify or list down different accounting information systems used.

AIS's cover all business functions from backbone accounting transaction processing systems to sophisticated financial management planning and processing systems.

Financial reporting starts at the operational levels of the organization, where the transaction processing systems capture important business events such as normal production, purchasing, and selling activities. These events (transactions) are classified and summarized for internal decision making and for external financial reporting.

Cost accounting systems are used in manufacturing and service environments. These allow organizations to track the costs associated with the production of goods and/or performance of services. In addition, the AIS can provide advanced analyses for improved resource allocation and performance tracking.

Management accounting systems are used to allow organizational planning, monitoring, and control for a variety of activities. This allows managerial-level employees to have access to advanced reporting and statistical analysis. The systems can be used to gather information, to develop various scenarios, and to choose an optimal answer among alternative scenarios.

3.0.c What are the benefits by the management, users and customers derived from these AIS?

Information systems are vital to the operation and management of every organization. Managers who invest large amounts of money and other resources in information systems often do not know which information systems applications will benefit the organization. This article proposes and tests an approach for evaluating the benefit to the organization gained by the use of an individual information systems application. The test group was comprised of a random sample of 310 medium and large sized manufacturing organizations. We found that different organizations gain different benefits by using the same information system applications, and that the benefit an organization gains from using a computerized application increases as a function of the increase of two types of independent variables representing the level of complexity and uncertainty regarding a specific activity (customers, suppliers, etc.), and the impact of the decision supported by the added information on the organization's objectives.


3.0.d Cite any threat or misuse of these AIS by a specific company. How were the threats addressed? What were the damages?

MIDTERM QUESTION #3

MIDTERM QUESTION #3

Internet if properly maximized can be used as a medium to the advantage of the company. However, risks and threats are there. Thus, research the following:

1. Identify the possible risks and threats (eg. virus) that can potentially attack a company with internet connection.

What Is A Virus?
A virus is a man-made computer program that infects a file or program on our computers. Each time the infected program is run, the virus is also triggered. It spreads itself by infecting other programs on the same computer.

What Is A Worm?
A worm is also a man-made program that replicates itself. However, unlike a virus, it does not infect other program files on the computer. Instead, a worm spreads itself automatically to other computers through email, over a network and via Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

How Do We Get Infected?
Viruses and worms can infect desktop computers, laptops and network servers and reach our PCs from email, web sites, downloaded files and loadable media (e.g. floppy disks, CD-ROMs and DVDs).

How Does A Virus Or Worm Infection Affect Us?
Unfortunately, the effects of an infection are pretty unpleasant. The virus or worm, can,

• Disable the computer
• Add, modify or delete files or reformat the hard disk
• Steal addresses held in our computer to send on virus-infected emails to our friends, colleagues, clients or customers
• Send unsolicited bulk email (spam) to those in our mail address books and other use

www.guard-privacy-and-online-security.com/how-do-you-stay-safe-on-the-internet.html - 35k -

2. Case research and analysis:

Rigor in Information Systems Positivist Case Research: Current Practices, Trends, and Recommendations

Case research has commanded respect in the information systems (IS) discipline for at least a decade. Notwithstanding the relevance and potential value of case studies, this methodological approach was once considered to be one of the least systematic. Toward the end of the 1980s, the issue of whether IS case research was rigorously conducted was first raised. Researchers from our field (e.g., Benbasat et al. 1987; Lee 1989) and from other disciplines (e.g., Eisenhardt 1989; Yin 1994) called for more rigor in case research and, through their recommendations, contributed to the advancement of the case study methodology. Considering these contributions, the present study seeks to determine the extent to which the field of IS has advanced in its operational use of case study method. Precisely, it investigates the level of methodological rigor in positivist IS case research conducted over the past decade. To fulfill this objective, we identified and coded 183 case articles from seven major IS journals. Evaluation attributes or criteria considered in the present review focus on three main areas, namely, design issues, data collection, and data analysis. While the level of methodological rigor has experienced modest progress with respect to some specific attributes, the overall assessed rigor is somewhat equivocal and there are still significant areas for improvement. One of the keys is to include better documentation particularly regarding issues related to the data collection and analysis processes.

www.citeulike.org/group/9397/article/4154386 - 31k -

2.a Identify one company that had experienced an attacked from the internet.

Westinghouse Electric Corporation, part of the Nuclear Utilities Business Group of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) is a provider of nuclear plant products and services to utilities around the globe. The company employs more than 9,000 people at 36 locations worldwide-many of whom are engineers generating revenues by meeting customer deliverables and schedules.

"We have a global business that requires collaboration and sharing of information and data worldwide," says Thomas Moser, manager of Information Technology Services for Westinghouse. "Having networks that are up and available to continue the revenue stream is highly important."

2.b Describe the attack.

In February 2004, the company found out just how damaging this vulnerability could be when the network was hit with the MyDoom virus. Moser and his staff realized that the network was under attack by something the anti-virus software wasn't recognizing, and immediately began disconnecting the affected segments. Only 103 PCs were infected-less than two percent of worldwide workstations-and they were isolated within 35 minutes. But by that time, the damage had been done: 24 locations worldwide were affected. More than 9 million files, representing 1.4 terabytes of data, were deleted. And in the aftermath, more than 12,000 hours of employee productivity were lost, at an estimated cost of more than US$1 million.


2.c Identify the damages done and the solutions adopted to reverse the damages and to protect the company from future threats.

Just one month after the MyDoom attack, Moser became aware of a new kind of network endpoint protection that had recently been introduced by Cisco Systems®: Cisco® Security Agent. A host-based threat defense system, Cisco Security Agent analyzes actual operating system behavior of PCs and servers, and blocks suspicious or malicious activity-without relying on matching a virus signature. As a result, the solution can provide protection against both known and unknown day-zero threats. It was exactly what Moser and Westinghouse were looking for.

"We first looked into Cisco Security Agent in March, 2004, and we immediately purchased licenses for all our users, without even seeing it," says Moser. "We tested and piloted it over the following three months, and then began rolling it out site by site later that year. By February, 2005, we had implemented it across the world, and we've been using it ever since."

Moser admits that he likely would not have purchased a new technology sight unseen under other circumstances. But the fact that Cisco Systems was behind the solution gave him the confidence to move forward. Westinghouse had also had very positive experiences with other Cisco solutions, including Cisco PIX® security appliances and Cisco Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) solutions, and relied on a network infrastructure built almost entirely with Cisco routers and Cisco Catalyst® switches.

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps5057/products_case_study0900aecd8033ab2f.shtml - 37k -

MIDTERM QUESTION #2


1.Research Philippine company and one international company that have employed e-commerce.

• BIR's e-Filing and e-Payment System
  

  The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) seeks to collect taxes efficiently and effectively and at the least cost to the government. To achieve this mission, the BIR has decided to do away with traditional paper-based tax filing and payment processing and adopt a more efficient electronic business model as an alternative tool.Industry: Government; Solution Area: e-Business/e-Commerce; Client Name: Bureau of Internal Revenue ; Region: Philippines;

• Fuji Film Co., Ltd - Symfoware
  

  Since its debut in the Japanese business world as the leading edge query building tool in 1996, Fujitsu Symfoware Navigator has been hailed as the most intuitive, business user empowerment tool for information extraction and delivery. Hundreds of companies have successfully implemented their business information delivery systems using Symfoware Navigator including the following:Industry: Manufacturing; Solution Area: e-Business/e-Commerce; Client Name: Fuji Film Co., Ltd.; Region: Japan;

www.fujitsu.com/global/casestudies/solution/eBeC.html - 22k -

2.Describe how e-commerce operate in these companies.

They use it as empowerment tool for extraction and delivery.


3.Identify the benefits / constraints / derived by these companies from e-commerce.

In BIR it helps them to collect taxes effectively and efficiently and at the least cost to the
government.

MIDTERM QUESTION #1

MNC's are complex organizations however, they dominate the worldwide market. Knowing the background and nature of MNC's, answer the following:

1. Identify the benefits and disadvantages of MNC's.

Multinational corporations can provide developing countries with critical financial infrastructure for economic and social development. However, these institutions also bring with them relaxed codes of ethical conduct that serve to exploit the neediness of developing nations, rather than to provide the critical support necessary for countrywide economic and social development.
With the realization that multinational corporations create such a mixed bag of pros and cons for developing nations, there is a clear impetus to examine what has been written about the advantages and disadvantages of these institutions. To this end, this investigation considers what benefits and problems are engendered when multinational corporations establish themselves in developing nations. Through a careful consideration of the benefits and drawbacks of these institutions, it will be possible to identify critical businesses standards that should be used by these organizations. Further, by examining the advantages and disadvantages of multinational corporations, recommendations for what role the American government should play in policing these organizations will be identified.
associatedcontent.com/.../multinational_corporations_benefits.html

2. Identify one MNC company and describe its operation.

McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily.^[3] McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, and desserts. More recently, it has begun to offer salads, wraps and fruit. Many McDonald's restaurants have included a playground for children and advertising geared toward children, and some have been redesigned in a more 'natural' style, with a particular emphasis on comfort: introducing lounge areas and fireplaces, and eliminating hard plastic chairs and tables.

Each McDonald's restaurant is operated by a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporations' revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's revenues grew 27% over the three years ending in 2007 to $22.8 billion, and 9% growth in operating income to $3.9 billion.^[5]

McDonald's has for decades maintained an extensive advertising campaign. In addition to the usual media (television, radio, and newspaper), the company makes significant use of billboards and signage, sponsors sporting events ranging from Little League to the Olympic Games, and makes coolers of orange drink with their logo available for local events of all kinds. Nonetheless, television has always played a central role in the company's advertising strategy.

To date, McDonald's has used 23 different slogans in United States advertising, as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions. At times, it has run into trouble with its campaigns.

3. Describe how the parent control/coordinates with its subsidiaries in other countries or region.

The UK business model is different, in that fewer than 30% of restaurants are franchised, with the majority under the ownership of the company. McDonald's trains its franchisees and others at Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois.

In other countries, McDonald's restaurants are operated by joint ventures of McDonald's Corporation and other, local entities or governments.

As a matter of policy, McDonald's does not make direct sales of food or materials to franchisees, instead organizing the supply of food and materials to restaurants through approved third party logistics operators.

4. How is IT maximized or used by this MNC?
5. WHat were the weaknesses/problems encountered by this MNC from its environment and global setup?

As a prominent example of the rapid globalization of American fast food industry, McDonald's is often the target of criticism for its menu, its expansion, and its business practices.

The McLibel Trial, also known as McDonald's Restaurants v Morris & Steel, is an example of this criticism. In 1990, activists from a small group known as London Greenpeace (no connection to the international pressure group Greenpeace) distributed leaflets entitled What's wrong with McDonald's?, criticizing its environmental, health, and labor record. The corporation wrote to the group demanding they desist and apologize, and, when two of the activists refused to back down, sued them for libel in one of the longest cases in British civil law. A documentary film of the McLibel Trial has been shown in several countries.

In 1999, French anti-globalisation activist José Bové vandalized a half-built McDonald's to protest against the introduction of fast food in the region.^[16]

In 2001, Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation included criticism of the business practices of McDonald's. Among the critiques were allegations that McDonald's (along with other companies within the fast food industry) uses its political influence to increase its profits at the expense of people's health and the social conditions of its workers. The book also brought into question McDonald's advertisement techniques in which it targets children. While the book did mention other fast-food chains, it focused primarily on McDonald's.

In 2002, vegetarian groups, largely Hindu, successfully sued McDonald's for misrepresenting their French fries as vegetarian.^[17]

Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary film Super Size Me said that McDonald's food was contributing to the epidemic of obesity in society, and that the company was failing to provide nutritional information about its food for its customers. Six weeks after the film premiered, McDonald's announced that it was eliminating the super size option, and was creating the adult happy meal.

Anthony Bourdain on his show, No Reservations, has criticized McDonald's among other fast-food restaurants for its culinary blandness.

The soya that is fed to McDonald’s chickens is supplied by agricultural giant Cargill and comes directly from Brazil. Greenpeace alleges that not only is soya destroying the Amazon rain forest in Brazil, but soya farmers are guilty of further crimes including slavery and the invasion of indigenous peoples’ lands. The allegation is that McDonald's, as a client of Cargill's, is complicit in these activities.^[18]