DSS

Businesses are always looking for way to improve on everything they do, including making difficult decisions easier. A Decision Support System or DSS is an organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases, and devices used to help make decisions that solve problems. [1 Pg. 288] A DSS is often a computer-based program that will support ones decision making.These systems ultimately will make costs lower, generate higher profits, and make better products.

"Decision Support Systems analyzes business data and provide interactive information support to managers and business professionals during the decision-making process, from problem recognition to implementing your decision." [2]

Decision Support Systems use:
(1) Analytical models
(2) Specialized databases
(3) A decision maker’s own insights and judgments
(4) An interactive, computer-based modeling process to support semi-structured business decisions. [2]

When decisions need to be made within a business data is always needed relevant to the situation and a DSS provides user's with this information at lightning quick speeds.

TurboRouter is a DSS that was developed in Norway to reduce shipped costs a cut emissions of merchant ships. [1 Pg 288] Before they had a DSS to assist with this, it was a job done by someone with pen and paper and had vast experience. The job was getting done, but one person can only evaluate a few ships at a time. MARTINEK is the company that developed TurboRouter which combines the experience of these people with the intelligence and calculating capabilities of a computer. [3] This system will make suggestions to a user at much faster speeds and the user always has the ability to edit or decline suggestions made by TurboRouter. [3] The TurboRouter has increased the speed of production for this process and brought more profit to various shipping companies.

There are many occurrences that a DSS can be implemented. Some examples are:

1. A large stock of inventory, where decision support system applications can provide guidance on establishing supply chain movement that works for a business.

2. A sales process, where decision support systems software is a "crystal ball" that helps managers theorize how changes will affect results.

3. Other specialized processes related to a field or industry. [4]

As you can see DSS can be used for many different applications. They provide businesses with many benefits that help increase profits, cut costs, optimize inventory. Some of these major benefits include:

• Speeding up process of decision making
• Increasing organizational control
• Speeding up problem solving in an organization
• Helping automate managerial processes
• Improving personal efficiency
• Eliminating value chain activities [2]

However even though a DSS seems like a benefit, there are some disadvantages to having one as well. A DSS costs a good amount of money to buy and you must invest a lot data into the system depending on what you want to do with it. These DSS provide data and sometimes can overemphasize decision processes. Once people get to using these DSS they may rely of them too heavily to make decisions for them when they are use to assist with decisions. [5]
I believe that businesses should use a DSS if they are making decisions that involve a lot of data, and become time consuming. If you have the money for them and use them correctly they can be heavily beneficial to your business and generate lower costs, higher profit and improve your services.

[1] Introduction to Information Systems by Gregory Stair
[2] http://www.targit.com/en/LandingPages/DecisionSupportSystem
[3] http://www.sintef.no/Projectweb/TurboRouter/
[4] http://www.business.com/guides/decision-support-systems-dss-applications-and-uses-34372/
[5] http://dsssystem.blogspot.com/2010/01/disadvantages-of-decision-support.html

Apps/Services

Apps/Services


 Twitter - Twitter offers businesses to interact, observe and gain feedback from consumers. They can satisfy customers through messages sent on here and save costs on staffing for customer service jobs. They can also get an idea of what is trending and popular amongst their consumers and base future marketing plans on that.

 Evernote- It is an organization software that allows businesses to organize an ything they could possibly want, from text messages to ideas that pop up in your head. The program will remind you of them and remember so you don’t have to.

 Google Drive- Google Drive allows one to store, create, edit and share word, presentation, excel and other various documents. This would allow a person to store resume’s, and send them to businesses. Businesses can store and share marketing plans to their employee’s.

 Dropbox- This app uses cloud computing to enable users to store and share large files with others. Business can share a large file or folder containing a new project using dropbox instead of email and it will be much faster and simpler.

Basecamp- It is a project management online service. Although you do have to pay a monthly fee for it, it allows users to organize files, to do lists, manages progress and allows communication via forums and is highly recommended by anyone who uses it.

Xero- This is an online accounting service . It was designed for personal use or small and medium businesses. It allows employee’s, managers or anyone who has access to view real time financial records. Once again this does have a subscription fee, but allows a free trial.

Logmein- This offers a sue of services the will allow one to remotely control another’s computer. This can greatly help in their customer service aspect of a business. If a customer has an issue with your business you can remotely take over their computer and show them how to resolve the issue. I have personally seen this with microsoft. They will take over your computer controls and try to solve the issue while explaining what they are doing.

Springpad- This service is free and offers to save ideas and information that you would want to remember. The app will automatically categorize your information then improve and enhance it with links that can be useful to your stored information. This can help finish under-developed ideas or provide one with solutions.

Organization is incredibly important to businesses and whenever that task is made easier with an application it is useful. Many of these services offer organization or files and information, and they all offer different ways to organize and share files. File Sharing is another important tool to increase productivity and ease of access to employees and other important figures within a business. With these cloud computing applications/services it has made marketing, organization, file sharing easier and ultimately cuts costs of staffing and increases revenue.

https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?OBJID=840799000000003023&STANDALONE=true&ZDB_THEME_NAME=blue&DATATYPESYMBOL=false&REMTOOLBAR=true&SEARCHBOX=true&SHOWHIDEOPT=true

Link used for a lot of my information : http://thebowditchgroup.com/17-cloud-computing-applications-small-business/

E-Commerce

Electronic Business (E-Business) or E-Commerce can be conducting of any business transactions online, whether it be Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C) or Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C).[1 pg. 220] Consumer to Consumer transactions are the ones that interest me most. C2C is a branch of of E-Commerce that involves consumers selling directly with other consumers, usually involving a third party. [1 pg. 220]

The most common example I have come across are C2C online auctions. With online auctions consumers place the item(s) they want to sell on auction for a starting price and allow other consumers to bid on that item for a period of time.[2] The third party website will set up the users with all the proper information to conduct the transactions, and in doing so they usually take a small percentage of each sale. [3] Ebay, Bidwicket, and uBid are just a few examples of website that act as that Third Party. Once an item is sold the consumer who bid the most money will end up with the item and the third party will officiate the transaction. [3]

Although online auctions are largely a C2C e-commerce, many businesses take advantage of them. Businesses use these third party online auctions mostly to sell sale items and surplus (Business-to-Consumer or B2C). These businesses don't risk losing money on sale items because they can set the starting bid price to cover the costs of using the site. [2]

Some drawbacks to online auctions are that consumers can hold the product they are viewing in their hand which leads to a potential for fraud and the fact that you are paying money to a third party and losing some of the money one will be making from the sale. [2] Fraud occurs on online auctions when a person decides to sell an "item" and has the other consumer pay first and never sends the item or steal their credit information.

Another Example of C2C e-commerce taking place is through classifieds. The most common website using that format is Craigslist. Consumer's place whatever items they want to sell/want and a description on Craigslist.com and other consumers can view them and purchase/sell as they see fit. Usually people who are selling items set parameters such as where they live and how they want to sell the items whether it be in person or delivery. The best thing about classified websites is that most of the time they are free to post on. [4]

A common practice with any sort of E-commerce is the use of Electronic Payment Systems. Most website you use whether it be Ebay or Amazon offer multiple forms of payment for more ease to the consumer. [1 Pg. 232] The most common ways consumers purchase items are with debit/credit cards. Electronic Payment Systems confirm the credit card you are using is valid with the CRV number on your card (the number next to the signature script). [5 Pg 550] Other less common but still used forms of payment are electronic money (Paypal), smart card (cards used to store information, as well as money for purchasing), P-cards (usually cards given to employee’s with guidelines to how they can be used). [1 Pg 233] You can also pay using your cell-phone. One-click payment on your phone has become popular and incredibly dangerous for shopaholics. Amazon.com implements this system through their amazon phone application.

In conclusion e-commerce has become increasingly popular since it started. It is more convenient, a lot of times less expensive and ever-growing with technology and popularity. E-commerce has known to put many physical stores out of business and I believe it will continue to do so.

[1] Introduction to Information Systems by Ralph Stair and George Reynolds
[2] http://www.answers.com/topic/online-auction-business-model
[3] http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-consumer-to-consume r-e-commerce.htm
[4] http://smallbusiness.chron.com/craigslist-money-27287.html
[5] Electronic Commerce 2008: A Managerial Perspective. London: Pearson Education Ltd. by E. Turban, D King

4G

Since the introduction of Smartphones, the internet services to support them have grown quickly and become very fast. We are up to 4G (Forth Generation) broadband wireless mobile. [1]Pg 166] 4G broadband is the fastest of the generations and offers the most possibilities.
Mobile phones have become so much more than just that, a Mobile Phone. It is fascinating to actually see the growth of phones between a time period as short of even five years. 4G is not only limited to cell phones, as it also can be used for laptops and other mobile devices. [2] options such as the ability to access high-definition (HD) 4G offers new options such as options to access view, and download high-definition video, high-quality voice, and high-data-rate wireless channels via mobile devices. [2] These options not only provide new users with more forms to enjoy entertainment, but also for company's to do business. With a higher data rate and broader bandwidth capability, 4G technology focuses on providing seamless service across a multitude of wireless networks and systems [2]
As compared to 3G network, a 4G network can be up to 10 times faster allowing for quicker everything. [3] According to a website with a chart comparing 3G to 4G the Peak Upload rate for 3G is 50 megabits/second, where as 4G is 500 megabits/second. The peak download rater for 3G is 100 megabits/second where as for 4g it is 1 gigabit/second. [4] So from these statistics alone the speed is significantly better.
Paired with 4G, Verizon and AT&T use 4G LTE or Forth Generation Long-Term Evolution. The point of LTE was to make sure that specific broadband standards are valid in the future. [5]
Some Targets set for the implementation of LTE include:

• Increased peak data rate:100Mbps for DL with 20MHz (2 Rx Antenna at UE), 50Mbps for UL with 20MHz
• Improved spectral efficiency: 5bps/Hz for DL and 2.5bps/Hz for UL
• Improved cell edge performance (in terms of bit rate)
• Reduced latency: [5]

Spectral efficiency refers to the information rate that can be transferred over a specific bandwidth. [6] Cell EDGE is an improved version of GSM which stands for Global System for Mobile Devices. [7] Latency refers to lag time or the amount of time processes take to occur and the time it takes to host to respond to your request. [I actually know that one ]

Unanimously with the many websites I have views 4G is significantly faster than 3G. One thing that may be confused with 4G that is does not improve call networks so if you get a lot of dropped calls with 3G, transferring to 4G will not change that. [3] In conclusion 4G is the newest and most powerful mobile broadband available to the public. I am sure in a few years 5G or whatever they want to call it will be released.

[1] Introduction to Information Systems.
[2] http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-4g.htm
[3] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/19/4g-network-what-you-should-know_n_879609.html
[4] http://www.diffen.com/difference/3G_vs_4G
[5] https://sites.google.com/site/lteencyclopedia/home
[6] http://wirelesscafe.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/what-is-spectral-efficiency/
[7] http://cellphones.about.com/od/phoneglossary/g/edge.htm

Web 2.0 and Social Networking

Web 2.0 is the new advanced version of the internet where users not only obtain information but give their own as well, just like in social networking websites. It is the latest evolution of the Web that enables people to take an interactive part in a particular Web site. This means that they can add all kinds of content to it: video, audio, chat rooms, blogging and instant messages. The Web 2.0 has empowered the Internet user to the highest degree ever. [1] Incredibly popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and blogging sites all allow the users to generate the content within the sites. Web 1.0 provided a platform for developers and the businesses and organizations that hired them to publish information for the general public to view. [2] [Pg. 195]

Before Social networking sites Web 2.0 was rarely used. The only people that used it were companies that required file sharing technologies. [1] Youtube and MySpace really kicked off the move into a Web 2.0 generation.

Social Networking sites are a most different yet popular phenomena on the Web. A social network is usually created by a group of individuals who have a set of common interests and or goals. [3] When a social network is created it’s success is based on the amount of contributors and users are on it. Social Networks and Web 2.0 go hand in hand. The beauty of Web 2.0 fitment to Social Networks is that all the components of Web 2.0 are built for the growth and sustenance of Social Networks. [2] All of these new popular user build and generated websites can tie back to social networking. Wikipedia, is virtually a user generated encyclopedia for anything you can possibly imagine. Anyone can submit anything at any time to add to the vast knowledge within the website, and there are admins that monitor the content for accuracy.

Social Networks also come in many different categories, Social Contact Networks (Facebook), Study Circles (Fledgewing), Social Networks for Specialist Groups like doctors and field workers (LinkedIn), Networks for Fine Art (Buzznet), Police and Military Networks (Database Sharing and Contribution), Sporting Networks (Fantasy Sports), and many others. [3] Social Networks are growing at an immense rate and rightfully so.

Businesses have flourished and taken advantage of these social networking sites. Since most of these websites allow the content that you post public, businesses can obtain what is trending and base their marketing plan on it. [2]Pg 195] They also can see what your likes/dislikes and lifestyle are like before hiring you. Many companies are also implementing these social networking like applications to the workplace so you can get to know your workers better and more efficiently communicate with one another. [2]Pg 195] I know this from personal experience. I work at Lowe’s and about 2 years ago they implemented a new social networking application called “My Lowe’s Life.” The interface is very similar to Facebook and you can interact with any other Lowe’s worker in the nation. You can use it to raise issues in the workplace, or post a status bragging about your stores sales, to even tracking your pay checks and stocks. This application was a very positive addition amongst the employee's at Lowe's.

In conclusion Social Networking and Web 2.0 are one in the same. The popular sites that were brought up such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc have paved the way for Web 2.0 to become popular. Everyone seems to be benefiting from these Social Networking sites, especially businesses who have used it to their advantage.

[1] http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/56576.html
[2] Fundamentals of Information Systems by Ralph Stair and George Reynolds
[3] http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-socialcollab/index.html

Assignment: A1.3 Value Chain

Upstream Management

Raw Materials: The materials of my company include the music CD’s that I will be purchasing from various sources to obtain my base inventory. Selection will be based on today’s popularity of music.


Inbound Logistics: Inbound Tracking systems will be used to track the inventory that is coming to the warehouse and have estimated times of arrival. Have feedback of what items we have to order more of and less of and base our shipments on it. If we have an item that is sold-out but we know one will be coming on the next truck we can give an estimated time of arrival at the warehouse and to the customers house for customer satisfaction.

Warehouse and Storage: An Inventory and Control System can be used. Here will be the warehouse that holds our unprocessed inventory. It will be held here and processed here. The system will update our inventory count.



Production: Processing and organizing the music CD's to be moved to the finished product storage. We can confirm our order was correct and add them to our finished product storage inventory.


Downstream Management:

Finished Product Storage: The processed CD’s are stored in an organized manner for easy retrieval when an item is purchased. Items are bin located and stored on a computer system. We can keep track of how many we have of a product, if we need a product and if we have too many. This way we can order more, lower the price, or refuse to buy any more if we have too many. Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems can be used once an item is purchased it can be marked as purchased and once it is pulled and shipped it is removed from inventory. This can help eliminate confusions and keep the inventory organized.

Outbound Logistics: Offer shipping options to our customers. Have a Distribution Planning system. Track the items that we are shipping out and have estimated time of arrival. We also offer a tracking number so the customers know where their CD’s are. Use the least expensive methods to ship to different places in the most efficient time to determine the most profitability and customer satisfaction.

Marketing and Sales: Use the proper, popular, more inexpensive ways to promote my new business (Website ads, commercials, Youtube ads). Use a Promotion Planning System to determine which methods work and which do not. Weight the cost of each method to the amount of traffic it brings to our website and limit/increase it based on what’s most profitable.

Customer Service: Customer Service Tracking and Control Systems can be used to track orders and customer feedback. Tracking orders helps with organization and confirms a package arrived to a customer. We can change services we offer and methods we used if a similar problem arises from customer feedback. 

Feedback:

Grade: 5.00 / 5.00

Good job!

Assignment: Analyzing Value of Info System

Jeffrey Mayhew
12/24/12
W1T2

The Business Information System that I chose was The Enterprise Systems: Transaction Processing Systems and Enterprise Resource Planning. Transaction Processing is very important to businesses and it collects data (Input) of any transactions that are happening within the business whether it be a customer transaction or an employee getting a paycheck. It also stores, for example the number of hours employee’s worked in a week and corresponds it to their pay (manipulate) to see what they will get paid for the week (output). Many of these transaction systems also have a Feedback mechanism that will correct errors. For example there will be parameters for the amount of hours that can be worked, such as 0-100 and anything outside of that an error or correction will occur. Feedback as shown on Page 8 is critical to this system as well as most because if there is no feedback and the input is wrong, money will be lost and nobody will know about it.

Enterprise Resource planning manages the vital business operations of a global organization. It stores and outputs information to help a company reduce the costs of their products so customers will return to do business with that organization. The information it will store is how much products cost, how popular of an item it is and how much the company is paying to get it. The output is if the item isn’t selling enough at its current price and there is room to lower the price so money isn’t lost on the product. Feedback once again is extremely important to this system because the information must be correct in order to reduce the price of a product. If information is not correct then you may lose money if you reduce the price of a product that is already low enough. 

Grade 7.00/7.00

Hardware/Software for Mobile Use

Many companies are involved and becoming dependent on mobile commerce. Basic hardware components are always key to a business such as the CPU (Central Processing Unit) , Memory, Motherboard etc. A device that makes companies more mobile is portable memory such as flash drives and external hard drives. These devices allow for the simple transfer of data from one place to another. If you work from your computer at home, you can save the information onto the external hard drive then bring it into work and transfer your work.

Radio Frequency Identification is becoming used more and more by companies. I currently work at a Lowe’s and we use a Smartphone (iPhone) with a Mobile Application to track, maintain and order inventory. We can scan an item and see how many we have, when they are coming in, and what other stores in the area have them. Smartphone’s make the life of employee’s and consumers much simpler. You have the power to purchase an item in the palm of your hand. Mobile Apps and RFID makes the employee’s job simpler and in turn makes the transactions smoother and more effective.

Mobile Devices use Mobile Application software. Thousands of applications have been made for iPhone’s and Androids and now Tablets. Applications have been made anywhere from monitoring your bank account to complex video games. Creating an application that relates to your company and makes the ease of access from the consumer to the company is always essential.

Another piece of combined hardware and software are Pen Input devices. They make jobs significantly easier. Whether it be taking notes on a powerpoint, using it to run programs or simply browsing through business information this can help with the mobility of a company.

Zoho Spreadsheet

Blog (To View Embedded Spreadsheet)

http://jeffreymayhewinfosystems.blogspot.com/


Spreadsheet: https://sheet.zoho.com/public/jmayhew123/hardware-software-info

This spreadsheet lists each hardware/software piece I discussed in the forums. The spreadsheet has the price of the product, quantity that will be needed for the company, the total cost of the products, the brief use to the company and if it has a sale price to the public.

To create the spreadsheet:

-Create an Account of Zoho

-Confirm Account through the email you used.

-Create ---> Spreadsheet

-Input Information into the spreadsheet

-Share ---> Publish ---> Check the "Allow for Export"

-Copy the Embed code

-On your Blog page ad the gadget to allow HTML code.

-Paste the HTML code into the gadget.

-View Completed and published spreadsheet on the blog site.

My Blog and Gadget

Blog

You guys be creepin' on my blog page.

http://jeffreymayhewinfosystems.blogspot.com/


Gadget

Well the Gadget I decided to add to my page is the Stats Widget which tracks the Number of views your page receives. The Process was simple to obtaining it. You click on the template button on the fright side of the screen. Then you click on any link that says "Add Gadget." You choose the Stats Widget. You choose a title for the counter, how long the views show, the style of the counter and the style options. Then click "Save" and voila you have a counter

A counter can be beneficial to your page because it shows the amount of traffic that has been coming to your page. Whether its "All-time," "30 Days," or a "week," you can determine if your a serious blogger to get your page out there more.

Social Networks

              Social Networking sites have provided a new channel for which businesses to exploit and advertise their products. Alterian, Radian6 and Attensity are just a few companies that offer social media monitoring systems. These systems can be the difference from making to breaking a company. As the article mentioned 2/3 of the worlds online using population are using these social networking sites. The social media monitoring systems are like a search engine that can be used to fine posts on any social networking site related to a product you're selling.

              I would like to create a new online game, that is free to play for anyone interested, but there is an option to purchase special in game currency that provides the paying user's special benefits. I will advertise my game on the various social networking sites such as Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and even Youtube which has become similar to a social networking community. Using a Promotion Planning system I will determine which sites give my game more users and views and adjust it as such.

              After advertising I will use Radian6's (the only company I've heard of) Social Media Monitoring system to sift through feedback on my game on popular social media sites. Based on that feedback we can change, update and improve our game. We can also use Twitter and Facebook to get people to test our game and provide feedback for free.

               If my game becomes popular enough I would like to have an idea similar to Comcast where if we see negative feedback on say Twitter, we can offer services to that user.

IS Value

The Business Information System that I chose was The Enterprise Systems: Transaction Processing Systems and Enterprise Resource Planning. Transaction Processing is very important to businesses and it collects data (Input) of any transactions that are happening within the business whether it be a customer transaction or an employee getting a paycheck. It also stores, for example the number of hours employee’s worked in a week and corresponds it to their pay (manipulate) to see what they will get paid for the week (output). Many of these transaction systems also have a Feedback mechanism that will correct errors. For example there will be parameters for the amount of hours that can be worked, such as 0-100 and anything outside of that an error or correction will occur. Feedback as shown on Page 8 is critical to this system as well as most because if there is no feedback and the input is wrong, money will be lost and nobody will know about it.

             Enterprise Resource planning manages the vital business operations of a global organization. It stores and outputs information to help a company reduce the costs of their products so customers will return to do business with that organization. The information it will store is how much products cost, how popular of an item it is and how much the company is paying to get it. The output is if the item isn’t selling enough at its current price and there is room to lower the price so money isn’t lost on the product. Feedback once again is extremely important to this system because the information must be correct in order to reduce the price of a product. If information is not correct then you may lose money if you reduce the price of a product that is already low enough.