Chapter 2 - The Information Systems and Knowledge Management PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Chapter 2 - The Information Systems and Knowledge Management PDF

Description

LSP700 -Applied Research Chapter 2 - The Information Systems and Knowledge Management

Data - Facts or recorded measures of certain phenomena (things or events) Information - Data formatted (structured) to support decision making or define the relationships between two facts Market Intelligence - the subset of data and information that actually has some explanatory power enabling effective decisions to be made There is more Data > Information > Intelligence Characteristics of Valuable Information ➔ Relevance - reflects how pertinent these particular facts are to the situation at hand ➔ Quality - degree to which data represent the true situation ➔ Timeliness - data are current enough to still be relevant ➔ Information Completeness - having the right amount of information Knowledge Management - the process of creating an inclusive, comprehensive, easily accessible organizational memory, which is often called the organization's intellectual capital ➔ Knowledge - a blend of previous experience, insight, data that forms organizational memory Global Information Systems - an organized collection of computer hardware, communication equipment, software, data, and personnel ➔ Designed to capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and immediately display information about worldwide business activities Function of Business Research: ➔ Foundational - answers basic questions. What business should we be in? ➔ Testing - addresses things like new product concepts or promotional ideas. How effective will they be? ➔ Issues - examines how specific issues impact the firm. Like Organizational Structure ➔ Performance - which metrics are critical in real-time management and what insights can be gained from “ what-if” analyses of policy changes? Decision Support Systems (DSS) - helps decision makers confront problems through direct interaction with computerized databases and analytical software programs.

➔ Stores data and transforms them into organized information that is easily accessible to managers (Input → Output) ➔ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - a system that is part of the DSS that addresses exchange between the firm and its customers Database - a collection of raw data arranged logically and organized in a form that can be stored and processed by a computer. Data warehousing - the process allowing important day-to-day operational data to be stored and organized for simplified access. Data warehouse - the multitiered computer storehouse of current and historical data. Input Management ➔ Input - all numerical,test,voice, and image data entered into the DSS ➔ 6 Major Source of Input: 1) Internal records - contain data that may become useful information for managers ➔ Accounting reports of sales and inventory figures ➔ Costs, orders shipments, inventory, sales and other aspects of regular operations ➔ Customer profiles 2) proprietary business research - studies specific company problems ➔ emphasizes the company’s gathering of new data ➔ Is not conducted regularly or continuously 3) salesperson input - sales representatives’ reports: (1) can alert managers to changes in competitors’ prices and new product offerings (2) may involve the types of complaints salespeople are hearing from the customers ➔ As trends become more evident = data may become business intelligence 4) behavioural tracking - modern technology provides new ways of tracking human behaviour. ➔ GPS Systems and “Click through” Sequence ➔ Scanner Data - the accumulated records resulting from point-of-sale data recordings ➔ Single-source Data - a system’s ability to gather several types of interrelated data. Like Type of Purchase | Use of a sales Promotion | Advertising frequency data 5) outside vendors and external distributors - market information as their products ➔ Nielsen company provides television program ratings, audience counts, and information about the demographic viewer groups ➔ Data specialists record and store certain business information

Computerized Data Archives

➔ Computer Wholesalers - companies that put together consortia of data sources into packages that are offered to municipal, corporate, and university libraries for free Types of Databases: 1) Statistical Databases ➔ contain numerical data for analysis and forecasting ➔ Geographic information system use geographical databases and powerful software to prepare computer maps of relevant variables ➔ Scanner data are a common source 2) Financial Databases ➔ Includes competitors and customers’ financial data - I/S and B/S 3) Video Databases ➔ Video databases and streaming media are having a major impact Networks and Electronic Data Interchange ➔ Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) - systems that integrate one company’s computer system with another company’s system to exchange business information with suppliers or customers Internet - a worldwide network of computers that allows users to access information from distant sources ➔ A domain is typically a company name, institutional name, or organizational name associated with a host computer. ➔ Host - where the content for a particular website physically resides and is accessed ➔ Usefulness in research: ◆ Accessing Available Data - allows instantaneous and effortless access to a great deal of information ◆ Collecting Data - questionnaires can be posted on a website. Cutting down on costs and reducing errors and consumers’ usage leaves a record that can be traced and observed ➔ Content Providers - parties that furnish information on the WWW ➔ Uniform Resource Locator (URL) - a web site address that web browsers recognize ➔ Search Engines - computerized directories used to search the WWW (google, yahoo!, hotbot) ➔ Keyword Search - takes place as the search engine searches through millions of web pages for documents containing the keywords Interactive Media and Environmental Scanning ➔ Interactive medium - a medium, such as the internet, that person can use to communicate with and interact with other users ➔ Environmental scanning - entails all information gathering designed to detect changes in the external operating environment of the firm Information Technology 1) Pull Technology - consumers request information from a web page and the browser then

determines a response. The consumer is essentially asking for the data 2) Push Technology - sends data to a user’s computer without a request being made. Software is used to guess what information might be interesting to consumers based on the pattern of previous responses 3) Smart Agent Software - software capable of learning an internet user’s preferences and automatically searching out information and distributing it to a user’s computer 4) Cookies - small computer files that record a user’s web usage history Intranet ➔ A company’s private data network that uses internet standards and technology ◆ The information - daya,graphics, video, and voice - is available only inside the organization or to those individuals whom the organization deems as appropriate participants ➔ Firewall ◆ Security software installed to limit access to only those persons authorized to enter an intranet ➔ Intranet2 - a collaborative effort involving about 250 universities and government entities (including the military), and corporate organizations in the US. ◆ Users are limited to the affiliated organizations ◆ Hope is to recreate some of the cooperative spirit that created the internet originally: Multimodal access, wireless technologies, building global trading mechanisms...