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Flashcards

Information Systems

Guy Turner English 85 cards

Cards in this deck (85)

  1. 1What are information systems?Set of interrelated components working to collect, process, store, and disseminate info to support decision making, control, coordination, and analysis in an organization
  2. 2What do internal control systems do in accounting info systems (AIS)?Ensure numbers are correct, protect against fraudulent activity,
  3. 3What are the components of an info system?Hardware, software, personnel, etc. They don't necessarily have to be computer-based
  4. 4The discipline of information systems does what?Studies how people collect, process, store, and disseminate their information
  5. 5How does data compare to information?Data is raw facts like numbers and symbols. Information is processed and contextualised, meaningful given there is an interpreter (like a computer or person)
  6. 6What is fine-grained information vs. coarse-grained information? What movement exists between the two?Fine-grained: pertains to a singular event or concept.
    Coarse-grained: info describing an aggregate of events or concepts.
    Fine-grain info can be used to make coarse-grained info, but the opposite is not true
  7. 7What information is preferable to be stored and used?Fine-grained information
  8. 8When storing information, what needs to be considered?- Will the info be useful for sales?
    - How long will the info be relevant?
  9. 9Information in an organisation resembles a _______, going from ______ info at the bottom to ______ info at the topPyramid, fine-grained, coarse-grained
  10. 10What is knowledge?Integrated information + understanding. Requires organizational context & know-how
  11. 11What are some examples of external pressures on an organization- Market pressures
    - Technological pressures (new products, features, & abilities)
    - Societal pressures (fair pay, sustainability)
  12. 12An online review aggregate website is an example of what kind of pressure?External technological
  13. 13What are the 5 forces outlined in Porter's competitive forces?1. Threat of new entrants
    2. Threat of substitutes
    3. Buyer power
    4. Supplier power
    5. Competitors
  14. 14What is the uses of Porter's competitive forces?Analyse strategic response & positioning
  15. 15What is the value chain?Processes a company carries out to deliver a valuable product or service to the market
  16. 16What are primary activities of the value chain?Activities directly related to the production of the good/service
  17. 17What are support activities of the value chain?Does not directly add value to the product/service, e.g. HR, infrastructure
  18. 18In gaining a competitive advantage, what activities in the value chain should be modified?Primary activities
  19. 19What are Porter's 3 business strategies?Focus Strategy: top line optimization
    Differentiation Strategy: unique competency
    Overall Cost Leadership: low-cost competency
  20. 20Describe a focus business strategyHones in on one specific market segment. Within a focus strategy, you select either differentiation (make your product different) or overall cost (lower cost) strategies
  21. 21What is the advantage of the differentiation strategy? What can this strategy involve besides product attention?Not competing on price, rather making your product unique so consumers are willing to pay more or buy more.
    - May involve improvement of customer experience
  22. 22What is the advantage of the cost leadership strategy? What can this strategy involve besides product attention? What is a way you can achieve this?More buyers by outcompeting the price of competitors.
    - May involve optimizing costs in the supply chain. E-commerce easy way to eliminate costs
  23. 23What is a way you can gain a competitive advantage outside of Porter's business strategies?Innovation
  24. 24What are the types of business that may be conducted?B2B: 85% of business
    B2C (consumer)
    C2C (e.g. trademe)
    B2E (employee)
    Governmental (G2B or G2C)
    E-business
  25. 25Describe the E-businessLarger than E-commerce - provides a service electronically rather than just buying/selling goods
  26. 26What are the benefits of E-commerce? What Porter's force does E-commerce increase?Easily accessible markets, lowered costs (no stores), larger choice. Increases force of new entrants, as easier to enter market
  27. 27What are some limitations of E-commerce?- Taxes, importing
    - Channel conflict: online vs. physical store for same company
    - Privacy
    - Job loss
  28. 28Why do we use cloud computing?Allows us to focus on application rather than infrastructure. Promotes resource elasticity, data availability, and allows disaster recovery
  29. 29In adopting cloud computing, we move from capital expenditure to _____operational expenditure
  30. 30Describe captial expenditure vs. operational expenditure- Capital: large, permanent purchase. Complex accountability (e.g. depreciation), requires immediate outlay
    - Operational: day-to-day costs. Requires minimal immediate outlay
  31. 31What are the 3 cloud computing classes?- Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): all software exists, ready to use e.g. google
    - Platform as a service (PaaS): generic computing one can run their own on software on top of
    Software as a service (SaaS): provided to meet needs of organization
  32. 32Differentiate between the top and bottom lineTop Line: reach new customers, offer new products, improve customer experience, etc.
    Bottom Line: optimize manufacturing, decrease transportation costs, etc.
  33. 33Where do SCMs focus as opposed to CRMs?SCM: bottom line, operational effectiveness
    CRM: top line, customer orientation
  34. 34Is CRM a strategy or info system?A strategy
  35. 35What does a CRM seek to do?Acquire new customers, turn them into repeat customers, and then segment them into high or low value repeat customers based off purchase history
  36. 36Explain how IS can be used in CRMCollecting & consolidating customer info from numerous areas.
  37. 37What is operational CRM, & what categories exist within it?Day-to-day customer info, assimilating info from sales, marketing, etc.
    - Customer-Facing: direct customer interaction
    - Customer-Touching: self-serve
  38. 38What does analytical CRM cover?Assimilation & analysis of customer info to generate longer-term plans and business intelligence.
    E.g. using data to create knowledge: 'customers who buy x are likely to buy y'.
  39. 39What are the benefits of CRM?Streamline sales process, provide better after-sale service + support, understand customers
  40. 40Supply chains concern ________Forward & reverse flow of goods, money, and information
  41. 41An SCM system consists of what?Information from multiple organizations
  42. 42Why do we want to optimize the supply chain?Streamline production thus reducing excess inventory, improve delivery estimates thus improving reputation
  43. 43Describe push vs. pull productionPush: forecasts used for production. Often results in excess stock sitting around. Non-streamlined
    Pull: production based off demand. Have to be sufficiently fast & streamlined
  44. 44Pull production reduces what effect?Bullwhip effect, the tendency of each organization in the supply chain to play it safe and produce excess
  45. 45How might SCM systems collect info?At every stage of the process, share between organizations, e.g. by using RFID
  46. 46Describe strategic vs. operational IS- Operational: Info regarding effectiveness of day-to-day operations. Short-term
    - Strategic: optimizes long-term goals. May include a decision support system
  47. 47Transaction processing systems do what? They are by far the _______ IS to build & understand.Records any business-related exchange, e.g. sales, purchases, payroll.
    By far the easiest IS to build & understand.
  48. 48Transaction process systems are the basis of what?Basis for providing business intelligence, although they are just a component of it and do not provide BI directly
  49. 49What are the goals of an accounting IS?Manage money flows in and out of an organization, & support management accounting activities (like planning etc.)
  50. 50What ISs concern marketing and manufacturing segments of business?Marketing: CRM IS
    Manufacturing: SCM
  51. 51What might a human resource IS manage?Employee info & HR activities
  52. 52A larger and more complicated organization might use what?Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  53. 53ERPs are the solution to what? When may an ERP be necessary?Effective operations across numerous info systems. May be good for multinational businesses, or businesses with many locations each with individual ISs
  54. 54What is the problem with ISs in an organization without effective ERP?IS units can be 'siloed' and isolated from other units, difficulty in operations across multiple systems may arise
  55. 55Describe the areas ERP covers- Finances
    - Operations & logistics
    - Sales & marketing
    - Human resources
  56. 56Describe how a ERP is structuredA centralised (conceptually centralised not physical) database that can be accessed by numerous groups within the business
  57. 57What is the one key benefit of an ERPIt provides a single source of truth for all segments within the organization. There are no conflicting data points for the same concept across multiple different ISs, i.e. it avoids inconsistency of process
  58. 58How can ERPs be problematic when concerning 'best practice'?It may deduce best practice protocol based on one segment of the organization that isn't applicable in another segment. It can be advantageous for businesses to adapt non-conventional practices in some cases
  59. 59Discuss the overall advantages of ERP- Eliminates redundancy in info sources
    - Central overview of operations
    - Integrates 'best practice' where appropriate
    - No inconsistency in info
  60. 60Describe some of the impacts ERP has had on businessesRethinking of business logic and creates an ongoing business-client relationship that is constantly being refined
  61. 61What are some downfalls to ERP?- Very expensive
    - Requires full buy in from all organizational aspects to work
    - Generally only adopted if info scattering is affecting sales
  62. 62What is ERP II, and why might it be necessary?An ERP across multiple organisations. Think supply chains?
  63. 63While ERP can be helpful, how can it fail?Will fail without skilled human input and poorly planned implementation
  64. 64Why are ethics important when regarding info systems?Privacy of users needs consideration. What information do you have rights to?
  65. 65What is an example of an ethical framework that might be adopted?Utilitarianism - mass opinion is correct
  66. 66What might be used in a business to outline the ethics that are expected to be upheld within the organization?A code of conduct - a hippocratic oath
  67. 67What is problematic regarding online privacy in NZ?Privacy act outlining what can & can't be done was passed in 1993 - it's outdated. Now rely largely on business ethics to ensure our privacy is upheld
  68. 68Why is privacy a fundamental human right?Without it, it's very easy to twist & abuse information. The 'nothing to hide, nothing to fear' argument has ethically wrong implications in saying that privacy of information is somehow criminal or bad
  69. 69What are the accepted practices of obtaining information in NZ? Provide an example of an exceptionCollect only what's needed from the person concerned with consent. Give people an opportunity to see & correct errors in their consent agreement
    - An exception is if there is a 'compelling' reason not to, e.g. suspected theft
  70. 70Provide some examples of unethical collection of information- Logging staff/customer activities without consent
    - Taking someone's picture without consent
    - Capturing info not related to cause, e.g. using a virus checker to check software content on computers
  71. 71What are some scenarios where entities may struggle to meet ethical standards despite trying to?- Lack of expertise/resources
    - Differing laws for multinationals
  72. 72What are some potential threats to the security of our privacy regarding computers and ISs?- Human error/carelessness
    - Physical access to unauthorized users
    - Social engineering (e.g. impersonation, phishing)
  73. 73Describe phishingFraudulent attempts to gain sensitive info like credit card details. Spear phishing is a more targeted approach, rather than just hoping some out of a large sample will engage
  74. 74Discuss the security issues that may be associated with manufacturing ISs (SCM)RFID can sometimes be decoded from afar (~60m)
  75. 75What is encryptionMakes communications secure
  76. 76What is augmented reality? What are the 3 types?Digitally changed reality. Spatial, video see-through, and optical see-through
  77. 77What 4 factors are key when considering information quality?Timeliness: currently accurate?
    Location: accessible?
    Form: right for purpose?
    Validity: dependable?
  78. 78Types of decisions?Structured (know how data will be used) vs. Unstructured (adaptable thinking, how can we use this data?)
    Recurring (e.g. transactions) vs. Non-Recurring (rare one-offs)
  79. 79What are some data analysis techniques relevant to accountingOLTP: online transaction processing (day-to-day)
    OLAP: online analytical processing (what does the data mean?)
    Data Mining: patterns & trends in data
  80. 80What is big data?Complex large data sets that present the challenges of storing, capturing, and ordering. If you can do these things, big data proves very useful for long-term plans
  81. 81Sources of big data?People-to-people, people-to-machine, machine-to-machine
  82. 82What are the 'four V's' that characterise big data?Volume
    Velocity
    Variety
    Veracity
  83. 83The study of big data for the purpose of use in decision making is called what?Data science
  84. 84What are 2 fields of interest in AI development?- Machine Learning: getting machines to act without being explicitly programmed (learnt from environment)
    - Deep Learning: simulate aspects of brain. Very difficult
  85. 85—

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Flashcards on Information Systems, created by Guy Turner on 26/05/2019.
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Guy Turner
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