Week Twelve B.I.T

Week Twelve - Project Management

1. Explain the triple constraint and its importance in project management
The challenge of every project is to make it work and be successful within the Triple Constraint; the Triple Constraint being quality - scope, cost - resources and schedule - time. These three elements of a project are known to work in tandem with one another. Where one of these elements is restricted or extended, the other two elements will then also need to be either extended/increased in some way or restricted/reduced in some way. There is a balancing of the three elements that only when fully understood by the Project Manager, allows for the successful planning, resourcing and execution of a project.

2. Describe the two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planning

There are two graphs which are used in project planning, of thoes the most frequent one's have to be the PERT chart and the GANTT

PERT Chart

A PERT chart is a graphic representation of a project’s schedule, showing the sequence of tasks, which tasks can be performed
simultaneously, and the critical path of tasks that must be completed on time in order for the project to meet its completion deadline.  The
chart can be constructed with a variety of attributes, such as earliest and latest start dates for each task, earliest and latest finish dates for
each task, and slack time between tasks

A PERT chart also presents a graphic illustration of a project as a network diagram consisting of numbered nodes (either circles or rectangles) representing events, or milestones in the project linked by labelled vectors (directional lines) representing tasks in the project. The direction of the arrows on the lines indicates the sequence of tasks

GANTT Chart

A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart developed as a production control tool in 1917 by Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and social scientist. Frequently used in project management, a Gantt chart provides a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project
3. Identify the three primary areas a project manager must focus on managing to ensure success

1. Managing change
2. Managing communication
3. Managing people

Motivating people is a myth. People cannot be motivated by others. They are motivated from within. Leaders can however, set up an environment in which people are able to motivate themselves.

To set up an environment that enables employees to be motivated, leaders need to understand what the motivational needs of individuals and groups are, this is just one factor a project manager must address when managing change.

Another main concept a project manager must grasp is managing communication.

Managing communication entails a dissemination of new communication directives connected with an organization, network, or communications technology. Aspects of communications management include developing communication ideologies, designing internal and external communications directions, and managing the flow of information, including online communication.

And lastly a manager must manage people;

As a managers most important job and most difficult job is to manage people. You must lead, motivate, inspire and encourage workers to help create a productive employees. 

4. Outline 2 reasons why projects fail and two reasons why projects suceed

2 reasons why projects fail?

A. Poor Planning

You’ve probably heard the saying “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” At the project/task levels, poor planning is one of the main reasons projects fail, fall behind schedule or miss their deadlines.

Without adequate planning, it is difficult to really understand what it will take to complete a project successfully. Lack of planning leads to inadequate preparation, unexpected problems, and poor execution

B. Scope Creep

It is common for IT projects today to be over budget or to not be implemented in the initial target timeframe.  Often the cause is attributed to scope creep.  Therefore, in the eyes of many in I.T. management, scope creep is a bad thing to be avoided.
And two reason's why projects succeed?

A. Change management

Change management entails thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all, consultation with, and involvement of, the people affected by the changes. If you force change on people normally problems arise. Change must be realistic, achievable and measurable. In business terms a Project managers ability to handle change effectively can lead to great success.  

B. Communication

Perfection of the skills of communication in most cases leads to success in projects. A project manager must allocate time and disburse time and information to thus create a environment in which the company can scope to see cost and revenue to generate further capital for the business. 

Week Ten B.I.T

 Week Ten - CRM & BI

1. What is your understanding of CRM?

Customer relationship management is a business strategy for managing a company's interactions with clients and sales prospects. CRM is beneficial to a business as it can increase customer loyalty and retention, which increases the profitability of an organisation. By appearing as friendlier businesses retain existing customers which is cheaper than finding new customers

2. Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.

Operational CRM is short term operational data that assists in processing the day to day operations or systems that interact with customers. An example of an operational CRM system is Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It is designed to integrate with Microsoft programs.
Analytical CRM uses operational data to establish trends within customers (data mining). Analytical CRM also focuses on long term customer relationship trends. This enables a business to gain an idea of customer needs and whether they are being achieved.

3. Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by marketing departments and sales departments

Sales Department

The sales department works to increase the volume of sales and meet current sales quotas. The sales department is focused on the short term as they use their skills to sell todays customers.
Sales force automation (SFA) - a system that automatically tracks the steps in the sales process. Focuses on increasing customer satisfaction, building customer relationships and improving product sales by tracking all sales information.


Marketing Department

List generators - compiles customer information from a variety of sources. E.g. questionnaires, website visits, etc. Once information is gathered a company can sort and filter it. A list generator enables a business to make strategic decisions.
Compaign management systems - guides users through marketing campaigns performing tasks e.g. scheduling. Campaign management systems incorporate the cost associated with campaigns, cost of inventory and the amount of customer sales.Cross selling and up selling - Cross selling offers an additional product or service. E.g. a matching tie for a shirt. Up selling increases the value of a sale. E.g. upsizing a meal at McDonalds

4. How could a sales department use operational CRM technologies?

Operational CRM technologies assist in the day to day operations of a business. Campaign management for example provides information upon scheduling and systems can be established for upselling and cross selling to maximises profits.

5. Describe business intelligence and its value to businesses

Business intelligence is data that can be gained from technology which can be used for strategic decision making by analysing the data to find patterns and trends. Business intelligence is important as it enables sound business decisions necessary for the business' survival.

6. Explain the problem associated with business intelligence. Describe the solution to this business problem

The biggest problem with business intelligence is the large amount of data that can be gathered. Data, however, is useless until it is analysed and becomes information. The sheer amount of data makes this a difficult process. Businesses must ensure that they have the adequate resources and tools to interrupt data. 

7. What are two possible outcomes a company could get from using data mining?

Data mining is the application of statistical techniques to find patterns and relationships among data and to classify and predict. Data mining may increase profits as it reveals trends that can be targeted by future marketing campaigns. Data mining also highlights trends which may indicate where the company can best allocate its resources int he future.

Week Nine B.I.T

Week Nine - Operations Management and Supply Chain

1. Define the term operations management

Operations Management is the management of systems or processes that convert or transform resources into goods and services. It aims to reduce the resources needed whilst meeting customer requirements. Operations management is responsible for the core processes used to manufacture goods and produce services.

2. Explain operations management’s role in business

The role of operations management within a business is to ensure that the business is efficient, using as little resources as possible, and effective, meeting customer requirements. Operations management is chiefly concerned with managing the process of converting inputs into outputs.


Operations management functions in interrelated activities such as: forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, managing inventory, assuring quality, motivating and training employees and locating facilities.

OPERATIONS MANAGER VIDEO:


3. Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology
IT can influnce operations management in areas such as: productivity, costs, flexibility, quality and customer satisfaction. IT provides information which is crucial for managers to make well informed decisions. IT can provide a number of different information forms such as the what-if analysis, sensitivity analysis and drill downs. They enable the correct business decision to be made in the circumstances
4. Explain supply chain management and its role in a business
Supply chain management is the management of the information flows between the various stages in a supply chain to maximise the total effectiveness of the supply chain and increase profitability. Supply chain management is vital in business as it enables firms to keep track of their inventory.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT:

5. List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain
Supplier: provides goods/services to a company to be used in the manufacturing process.
Manufacturer: makes products or services for businesses.
Distributor: a person or company that delivers the goods or services to the retailer.
Retailer: the shop where the product or service is sold.
Customer: the person who purchases the good or service from a retailer.
6. Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain.Information Technology improves the forecast and operations of the supply chain.
Information technology provides greater visibility over varying levels of the supply chain as goods can easily be located.
Information enables a faster response to consumer demands within the supply chain. This can create a competitive edge for a company differentiating itself by its fast delivery of goods.

Week Eight B.I.T

Week Eight - Networks & Wireless

 1. Explain the business benefits of using wireless technology.

Benefits include:
- Business 24/7 - 365 days a year
- Increased productivity
- Access to information anywhere and anytime
- Increased speed- added convenience 

2. Describe the business benefits associated with VoIP

The biggest benefit VoIP provides to business is that VoIP calls over a company’s intranet do not receive charges from a telecommunication company as they run on a private network. Costs are also reduced when calls are made over the internet, especially international calls which cover large distances. Skype is an example VoIP. It enables telephone and video calls over the internet.

3. Compare LANs and WANs

A local area network (LAN) connects computers within a small geographical region such as a business’ premises. LANs connect via Ethernet connections, routers and the internet to share data and internet connections. Firewalls are used to prevent unauthorised access.


A wide area network (WAN) varies from a LAN as it connects computers over a wide geographical region. LANs rely upon cabled connection whilst WAN’s rely upon the internet and wireless forms of communication such as satellites to connect computers together. WANs may be implemented across multinational corporations to enable them to share information across offices.

4. Describe RFID and how it can be used to help make a supply chain more effective.

Radio Frequency Identification is a method of tracking inventory. Small tags are used which receive and transmit radio signals to identify what the inventory is and where it is. Passive RFID tags have no internal power flow. Active RFID tags operate upon the same basis but have an active power flow.RFID is a low cost method of increasing the efficiency of the supply chain as cargo can easily be identified and located. This technology also enables downstream users, such as customers, to track where a product is located.

5. Identify the advantages and disadvantage of deploying mobile technology

Mobile technology is any form of technology that can travel with its user. When connected to the internet mobile technology can provide real time information. For example, the iPhone.
Advantages:The mobility of the technology means that it is convenient. An employee can access important information in real time at any location.Mobile technology is relatively cheap.The processors of mobile technology are powerful enough to provide real time information.The portability of mobile devices enables a broad reach as users can be reached instantly.

Disadvantages:Mobile technology is convenient its processing power is limited and a pc may be needed to run complex programs.Mobile devices are insecure. There is a threat of Bluetooth hacking which could cause significant business and personal information to be lost.

Week Seven B.I.T

Week Seven - Databases and Data Warehouses

1. List, describe, and provide an example of each of the five characteristics of high quality information.

High quality information is essential to any decision making process within an organization. The qualities of value information include:

Completeness: if data is incomplete then it's useless since it wouldn't represent an accurate whole image of reality.

Consistency: crutial part of the database approach as same data will be shared through the different departments.

Accuracy: preventing data entry errors with strictly entering accurate data.

Uniqueness: data has to be unique and pass the data integrity test.

Timeliness: data has to be updated to consistently be reliable

2. Define the relationship between a database and a database management system.

A special data processing system, or part of a data processing system, which aids in the storage, manipulation, reporting, management, and control of data. Abbreviated DBMS

System for quick search and retrieval of information from a database. The DBMS determines how data are stored and retrieved. It must address problems such as security, accuracy, consistency among different records, response time, and memory requirements. These issues are most significant for database systems on computer networks. Ever-higher processing speeds are required for efficient database management. Relational DBMSs, in which data are organized into a series of tables ("relations") that are easily reorganized for accessing data in different ways, are the most widely used today.

A collection of interrelated data together with a set of programs to access the data, also called database system, or simply database. The primary goal of such a system is to provide an environment that is both convenient and efficient to use in retrieving and storing information.

A database management system (DBMS) is designed to manage a large body of information. Data management involves both defining structures for storing information and providing mechanisms for manipulating the information. In addition, the database system must provide for the safety of the stored information, despite system crashes or attempts at unauthorized access. If data are to be shared among several users, the system must avoid possible anomalous results due to multiple users concurrently accessing the same data.

Examples of the use of database systems include airline reservation systems, company payroll and employee information systems, banking systems, credit card processing systems, and sales and order tracking systems.

3. Describe the advantages an organisation can gain by using a database
A "Business Intelligence" database is specifically designed to enhance management's ability to understand their business operations and make good business decisions. It is imperative to have an in depth knowledge about factors such as your customers, competitors, business partners, economic environment, and internal operations to make effective and good quality business decisions. 

so a business must : 

* Avoid Errors
* Visualize data
* Manipulate data


1. Avoid Errors

There's only a single storage location for any piece of information, so:-

- data updates are simple with no need to change same info in 15 different files

- info is always up-to-date - there's no chance of old data remaining in some forgotten files

Error check data as they're entered

- data are validated on entry, to filter impossible values
- data can be cross-checked against existing information (no more pregnant males!) 

2. visualize data:

Reveal new feature of data:

A customized database can reveal new areas for investigation by presenting large quantities of data in an intuitive form.

Often patterns only become apparent by 'flicking through' the data. With a customised database this is possible in new ways: data from many different sources can be brought together and displayed quickly and easily.


3. Manipulation of data

combine different datasets easily and efficiently

With a database you can combine different data easily. No more error-prone cut-and-paste to force the data into a different format. Do away with all the intermediate Excel spreadsheets that are often generated when manipulating data. (And which you often daren't delete just in case they contain important information.)

Data manipulation is performed using Queries. These use Structured Query Language, SQL, to combine, update and manage data, but often the user need not know any SQL to perform complex tasks. In Microsoft Access, for example, the visual Query Builder provides an intuitive interface that makes most queries simple.

The following video is of effective data base use within a successful business.

4. Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model.
The relational paradigm introduced the concept of “related by [logical] key” as opposed to “related by physical record id”, and carried over the heavy reliance on indexes for searching for the keys. It was one major step forward in databases, with great advantages, but much slower than the preceding alternatives. Therefore, it is not the data being related (they were before the relational paradigm) that identifies a relational database, it is whether the data is related by logical key. It was really the difference between physical and logical, and developers no longer need to concern themselves with the physical key (record id). The record or row id still exists, but it is entirely hidden.

By the definitions set out by those great minds, for a “database” (normalised or not) to be relational:
1 the rows in a Parent tables must have one column which is the logical Primary Key (unique, not null)
2 the rows in a Child tables must have a Foreign Key to the Parent table, which is the PK in the Parent, which forms the logical relation between the Parent (rows, table) and the Child (rows, table).
This allows the tables to be rebuilt (without changing the logical keys), without affecting the integrity of the relations.

From your descriptions, the contents of your Progress system, by definition, as per the title of this thread and your initial post, is neither a database nor relational.

There are further levels of defining relational and databases, for which there are standards (eg. IDEF1X, which is used by the US Military and DoD), which some may say require compliance to, before the object can be defined as “relational” or “database”. I am limiting myself (1) & (2) to the absolute minimum standards set out by Codd & Date, which is now (twenty plus years on) well established.

5. Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.

A data-driven website is a site that can easily and quickly be updated by its managers to display requested information to the website user in the most effective way.  Conversely, a static website offers its users information that is rarely updated, but a data-driven website will constantly be updated with more recent and accurate information The benefits of a data-driven website are numerous.  The first  benefit is that changing the content of the website can be done without knowledge or expertise. Managing the website can be done with little training.  The website administrator does not need to know HTML or programming in order to make any changes and updating a data-driven websites only takes a couple of clicks all in a few seconds.  The second benefit is the level of speed when the website manager makes changes.  When hosting a data-driven website, changing the content is done almost in real-time.  Thirdly, data-driven websites inherently have a great deal of scalability.  To this end, expanding a website is very simple which leaves plenty of room for growth

6. Describe the roles and purposes of data warehouses and data marts in an organisation

Enterprise Data Warehouse: The enterprise data warehouse is typically a large organization-wide database repository that crosses over every business function and includes data from every organizational unit, division, and department.  In essence, an enterprise data warehouse is a substantially large repository of historical and current transaction data of an entire organization. 

Data Mart: A data mart is a collection of subject areas organized for decision support based on the needs of a given department or office.  Many times, a data mart will serve as the reporting and analytical solution for a particular department within an organization, such as accounting, sales, customer service, and/or marketing.  

There are two kinds of data marts that exist — dependent and independent: 

• A dependent data mart is one whose source is another data warehouse, and all dependent data marts within an organization are typically fed by the same source — the enterprise data warehouse.

• An independent data mart is one whose source is directly from transactional systems, legacy applications, or external data feeds

Week Six B.I.T

Week Six - Enterprise Architectures

1. What is information architecture and what is information infrastructure and how do they differ and how do they relate to each other?

Information architecture is a system which identifies the importance of current information, these could be such things like customer records which would allow companies to see what consumers are looking for, making the system easier to recognize what is needed. information architecture is the implement of providing effective information systems which include software and services. Although there is a difference between architecture and infrastructure as one opposes as a plan and the other acts an implication to a problem, yet with this in mind one can not exist without the other.


2. Describe how an organisation can implement a solid information architecture
organisation should concentrate on


1.Back up and Recovery
2. Disaster recovery
3. Information recovery


1. Back up is the process of an exact copy of a system's information which allows a business to have all information on hand in case of an information. The recovery process is the ability to get a system up and running in the event of a system crash or failure and includes restoring the information backup.


2. Disaster Recovery; is a detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of a catastrophic disaster such as a fire or flood.


3. An information system; is any combination of information technology and people's activities using that technology to support operations, management, and decision-making.

3. List and describe the five requirement characteristics of infrastructure architecture

infrastructure architecture is a combination of hardware, software, and telecommunication equipment that provides the underlying foundation to support the organization’s goals. Every time the organization changes, the systems should be able to change as well to support the operations new applications. There are five characteristics of adaptable systems for infrastructure architecture and they are the following:

·         Availability:  means that the information, the computing systems used to process the information, and the security controls used to protect the information are all available and functioning correctly when the information is needed      

    

·         Flexibility - mean the ability to meet changes within the business, also meaning the way the company adjust to domestic and international issues.

·         Performance - is the ability for a business computing system to process tasks at fast speeds to help accelerate the business performance and relieves pressure of the business

·         Reliability - is the businesses capability to be highly accurate and also incredibility efficient at offering exactly what the business requires

·         Scalability - is the systems capacity for growth, it involve planning for the future and planning to create space for new business activities

. 

4. Describe the business value in deploying a service oriented architecture 

Service orientated architecture offers great value to our consumers within business.

As not only does it allow the business to be able to see current change and adapt to change in a cost effective way, but it also allows for services and upgrades within the business to be identified quickly to create a greater more efficient system.

5. What is a event?

An event is known as a electronic message which tells the user that something within the system has happened, it detects threats and opportunities and highlights to those within a business what's happening

6. What is a service?

A service is a set of commands in which the business can re use over and over, it's thought of more as a software product and an encoding system

7. What emerging technologies can companies can use to increase performance and utilise their infrastructure more effectively

Cloud computing could be one way in which a business could use emerging technologies in this system format to create and effective and efficient business. Cloud computing works in the same way; users of "the cloud" can share computer functions by connecting, via the Internet or direct connection, to a specialized data center that holds all the data and programs necessary for their needs. The user becomes responsible only for a simple computer that can connect to the internet (or localized network) and access the central data center. Thus using this would enable the business to format everything into a simple system and allow users to responsible for only there own work with minimal errors.