Chapter 11

Information Systems Management

• Dee wanted to restrict access to blog– Easiest way was to put it on Emerson’s server– Needed permission and help of IT department

• Used manager to force submission– Exposed Emerson to enormous security risk

• Consultant could have misused system– Dee didn’t understand the problems– Different approach could have elicited more supportive

response• Interacted in a more effective way

• MRV’s IT services provided part-time by employees and outside contractors

• Some day, you will need to interact with IT personnel on a professional level

This Could Happen to You

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Q1: Why do you need to know about the IT department?

Q2: What are the responsibilities of the IT department?Q3: How is the IT department organized?Q4: What IS-related job positions exist?Q5: How do organizations decide how much to spend

on IT?Q6: What are your IS rights and responsibilities?

How does the knowledge in this chapter help Dee, MRV, and you?

Study Questions

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1. Need to understand responsibilities and duties of IT department– To be more effective consumer– To obtain services, equipment, and systems needed

2. Need to know about functions of IT department to be IS-savvy manager – To better understand how to integrate disparate companies

or offices– To raise IT issues early in merger or acquisition– To better understand needs of IT department in supporting

new initiatives3. Manager of small company needs to ensure

functions of IT department are performed

Q1: Why Do You Need to Know About the IT Department?

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1. Plan for information systems and IT infrastructure– Align IT activities with organization’s primary goals

and objectives– Assess new technology that might advance goals– Adapt IT infrastructure and systems to new

business goals

Q2: What Are the Responsibilities of the IT Department?

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2. Develop and adapt information systems– IT department must create, develop, and adapt

information systems– Create and adapt infrastructure

• Computer networks, servers, data centers, data warehouses, data marts

– Create systems infrastructures• Email, VPN, instant messaging, blogs, net meetings

– Specify standard computer systems Agile enterprise—organization that can quickly

adapt to changes in market, industry, product, law, or other significant external factor

Q2: What Are the Responsibilities of the IT Department? (cont’d)

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3. Maintain Information Systems infrastructures– Operate and maintain infrastructure

• Networks and servers must be monitored, tuned, and repaired

• System outages are expensive– Respond to threats to infrastructure

Q2: What Are the Responsibilities of the IT Department? (cont’d)

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4. Protect infrastructure and data from threats– Threats to infrastructure and data from:

• Human error and mistakes• Malicious human activity• Natural events and disasters

– IT department helps organizations manage risk• Identify potential threats• Estimate financial and other risks• Specify safeguards• Determine which level of risk to assume

Q2: What Are the Responsibilities of the IT Department? (cont’d)

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• Chief Information Officer (CIO)– Principal manager– Reports to CEO, COO, or CFO

• Technology office– Head: Chief Technology Officer (CTO)– Investigates new information systems

technologies for possible application at organization

• Operations– Manages computing infrastructure

Q3: How Is the IT Department Organized? (see video)

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• Development– Manages process of creating new

information systems– Maintains existing system

• Outsourcing relations– Handles affairs with outsourced systems

• Data administration staff functions– Establishes data standards and data

management practices and policies

Q3: How Is the IT Department Organized? (cont’d)

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• Figure 11-2

Typical Senior-Level Reporting Relationships

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• Systems analyst• Programmer• PQA test engineer• Technical writer• User support representative• Computer technician• Network administrator• Consultant

Q4: What IS-Related Job Positions Exist?

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• Salesperson• Small-scale project

manager• Large-scale project

manager• Database administrator• CTO• CIO

• Most positions require business knowledge plus technical knowledge

• Many require university degrees• Most require good verbal and writing skills• Think dual majors with MIS/CIS to enhance

your marketability (competitive advantage)– Accounting and information systems– Marketing and information systems– Management and information systems– HRM and information systems

IT Position Requirements

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• Analyze costs and benefits of system– Estimate dollar costs – Value tangible benefits

• Lifetime value of customers lost by not having support system

• Anticipated customer support cost savings

– Value intangible benefits• Value of email system

– Compute costs and tangible benefits to see if project is justified

• If not, then compute intangibles

Q5: How Do Organizations Decide How Much to Spend on IT?

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• Users’ Rights include:– Resources to perform work proficiently– Reliable network and Internet services– Secure computing environment– Participating in requirements meeting for

applications– Reliable systems development and maintenance– Prompt attention to problems, concerns, and

complaints– Effective training

Q6: What Are Your IS Rights and Responsibilities? (see video)

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• Users’ Responsibilities include:– Learning basic computer skills and techniques– Following security and backup procedures– Using computer resources in a manner consistent

with employer’s policies– Making no unauthorized hardware modifications– Installing only authorized programs– Installing computer patches and fixes– Treating information systems workers

professionally

Q6: What Are Your IS Rights and Responsibilities? (cont’d)

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• Figure 11-4

User’s Rights and Responsibilities

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• Suppose you are a manager at a company that with the stated policy. – “Computers, email, and the Internet are to be used primarily

for official company business. Small amounts of personal email can be exchanged with friends and family, and occasional usage of the Internet is permitted, but such usage should be limited and never interfere with your work.”

• You find out that one of your employees has been engaged in the activities listed on the following slide.

Ethics Guide: Using the Corporate Computer

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8. Bidding on items for personal use on eBay

9. Selling personal items on eBay10. Paying personal bills online11. Paying personal bills online when

traveling on company business12. Buying an airplane ticket for an ill

parent over the Internet13. Changing the content of a personal

Web site14. Changing the content of a personal

business Web site15. Buying an airplane ticket for a

personal vacation over the Internet

Ethics Guide: Using the Corporate Computer (cont’d)

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1. Playing computer games during work hours

2. Playing computer games before and after work hours

3. Responding to emails from an ill parent

4. Watching DVDs during lunch and breaks

5. Sending emails to plan a party that mostly involves people from work

6. Sending emails to plan a party that mostly involves no one from work

7. Searching the Web for a new car8. Reading the news on CNN.com9. Checking the stock market over the

Internet

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What would you do? How would you handle the situation?

• Recent media reports blame overseas outsourcing on U.S. job loss

• Real culprit is increased productivity because of information technology

• Creative destruction—“Cleansers of the free market”– Economic processes remove unneeded jobs; keep economy

growing and prospering– Without binge of new hiring

• What should you do?– Be a business professional who can use technology– Use technology and information systems to help your

company achieve goals and objectives – Define yourself as a problem solver, collaborator

Guide: Jumping Aboard the Bulldozer

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• Dee:– Understand the need to protect network infrastructure– Understand organization structure and functions of IT

department– Hire bonded consultant

• MRV:– One part-time IT person can not perform all IT jobs– No one has been thinking strategically about IS

• You:– Understand organization structure and functions of IT

department– Understand various professional IT careers

How Does the Knowledge in This Chapter Help Dee, MRV, and You?

11-21Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q1: Why do you need to know about the IT department?

Q2: What are the responsibilities of the IT department?Q3: How is the IT department organized?Q4: What IS-related job positions exist?Q5: How do organizations decide how much to spend

on IT?Q6: What are your IS rights and responsibilities?

How does the knowledge in this chapter help Dee, MRV, and you?

Active Review

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