Week 07

Question 1

Differentiate operational IT and Decision Making IT

Answer 1

Operational IT
- Does things you need to get done e.g. take bookings
- Direct cost saving

Decision-making IT
- Uses data to make better decisions
- Improves profits by better efficiency, greater sales etc

Question 2

What are the different levels of IS systems with examples?

Answer 2

Operational/ transaction processing: Lead to productivity
Ex: Office automation or processing control systems
Management support systems: lead to better decisions
Tactical - decision support system
Strategic- executive information systems

Question 3

Define both batch transaction procssing and real-time transaction processing

Answer 3

Transaction Processing
Batch – transaction data are accumulated over a period of time and
processed periodically
Real-Time – data are processed immediately after a transaction occurs

Question 4

Explain enterprise systems

Answer 4

Enterprise systems (ES) supports enterprise-wide or cross-functional requirements, rather than a single department or group within the company

Question 5

Explain ERP

Answer 5

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a type of software system that helps organizations automate and manage core business processes for optimal performance. An erp system might include MRP,CRM,FRM,SCM,HRM resources

Question 6

What does MRP stand for

Answer 6

Manufacturing resource planning

Question 7

at does CRM stand for

Answer 7

Customer relationship management

Question 8

Whar does FRM stand for

Answer 8

Finance resources management

Question 9

Explain MRP

Answer 9

Material requirements planning (MRP) integrates production, purchasing, and inventory management of related products

Question 10

Explain ERP enterprise system

Answer 10

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) further integrates transaction processing and other routine activities in the entire enterprise

Question 11

Explain modern idea of CRM

Answer 11

CRM provides information from customer transactions
– Capture and integrate customer data from all over the organisation.
– Consolidate and analyse customer data.
– Distribute customer information to systems and customer touch points across enterprise.
– Provide single enterprise view of customers - formed from analysis

Back in history shopkeeper would know customers personally

Question 12

What is the traditional supply chain and information flow

Answer 12

Supplier - Manufacturer plant - Manufacturer warehouse - wholesaler- retail- customer
There is often inadequate information flow along the supply chain or between other situations where different companies are involved.

Question 13

What are the aims in supply chain collaboration and information sharing?

Answer 13

– optimal inventory Levels
– optimal shipping plans
– successful management of just-in-time approaches

Question 14

Explain the just in time method

Answer 14

Just in time methods mean information links between suppliers and customers so that the suppliers understand the customer demand and are better able to meet that demand as a consequence. Its an inventory management method in which goods are received from suppliers only as they are needed

Question 15

What is B2B supply chain?

Answer 15

A transaction or business conducted between one business and another, such as a wholesaler and retailer. B2B transactions tend to happen in the supply chain, where one company will purchase raw materials from another to be used in the manufacturing process.

Question 16

in supply chain what will a business have a network of organisation and processes for?

Answer 16

– Procuring raw materials
– Transforming them into products
– Distributing the products

Question 17

What does upstream supply chain and downstream supply chain refer to?

Answer 17

Upstream supply chain:
– Firm’s suppliers, suppliers’ suppliers, processes for managing relationships with them

Downstream supply chain:
– Organisations and processes responsible for delivering products to customers

Question 18

What do supply chain execution systems do

Answer 18

Manage flow of products through distribution centers and warehouses

Question 19

What do supply chain planning systems do?

Answer 19

– Model existing supply chain.
– Demand planning.
– Optimise sourcing, manufacturing plans.
– Establish inventory levels.
– Identify transportation modes.

Question 20

Explain EDI in terms of supply chain

Answer 20

Electronic data interchange is the exchange of structured business data electronically. IN supply chain includes: Purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices

Question 21

Explain UN/EDIFACT

Answer 21

The United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport: comprise a set of internationally agreed standards, directories, and guidelines for the electronic interchange of structured data, between independent computerized information systems.

Question 22

What other technologies and IT are used in supply chain and for what purpose

Answer 22

Use IOT sensors,
RFID
Mobiles devices
Expert systems and AI to monitor things

Apart from reducing investory cost also need IT to monitor perishable goods, ensure security and audit trail

Question 23

What are the tangible benefits of E-supply chains

Answer 23

– Reduced costs
– Customer responsiveness
– Standardisation
– Globalisation
– Reduction in duplication of entries
– controls and reconciliation are enhanced
– rapid assimilation of data into the organisation

Question 24

What are the intangible benefits of E-supply chains

Answer 24

– better information ➔ better management
– Information visibility
– New/improved processes
– Customer responsiveness
– Flexibility
– Reduced risk
– More data means More feedback to customers

Question 25

What is XML?

Answer 25

XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language · XML is a markup language much like HTML, but a bit cleverer · XML was designed to store and transport data and exchange information. A browser knows (from a Stylesheet) how to display it and Other programs can process it too. It’s all about tagging

Question 26

Explain XBRL

Answer 26

XBRL Xtensible Business Reporting Language - enables preparers to utilize software to tag all financial items in their business reports to the elements within a taxonomy. *Freely licensed standard, originated in accountancy profession It is XML – and cleverer still, as well as tagging data items it can show relationships and how they have been calculated and it Uses a taxonomy

Question 27

Explain the international XBRL consortium

Answer 27

Supported by more than 600 member organisations, from both the private and public sectors. The standard has been developed and refined and supports almost every kind of conceivable reporting, while providing a wide range of features that enhance the quality and consistency of reports, as well as their usability

Question 28

What did the SOA adopt as an extension of XML for datasets?

Answer 28

XTbML - original standard was generalized and improved so that it would apply across a range of actuarial tabular data needs.

Question 29

Explain blockchain

Answer 29

Blockchain is a transaction database that uses encryption to ensure the validity of transactions among the parties in the system. It is a distributed ledger in a peer to peer distributed database so ther eis no central authority. ex: used by bitcoin

Question 30

What are the three fundamentals of a blockchain that establish it as a robust system of trust

Answer 30

Mutual - shared across organisation and owned equally by all Distirbuted - Multilocational data structure and so any user has its own copy Ledger - once a transaction is written it cannot be easily erased so ledgers integrity can be proven. Business users can be confident that transaction data are precisely the same as seen by their counterparty. Changes or updates are automatically propagated to all parties

Question 31

Explain a mutual distributed ledger and its benesits

Answer 31

Mutual distributed ledgers allow groups of people to validate, record, and track transactions across a network of decentralized computer systems. Security - unalterable Transparency - available and shared data since creation Resilience - copy of data are distributed and shared by all nodes of the network Disintermediation - No central authority

Question 32

Explain a smart contract and its benefits

Answer 32

A Smart Contract is a computer program that automatically executes the preset terms of a contract when conditions are met. Implements straight-through processing so increase time to market and makes more efficient business processes. There is more certainty the contract will be executed as agreed.

Question 33

Explain idea of pay as you go insurance

Answer 33

Pay as you go insurance using your phone location to determine where you are. - Phone GPS - Network roaming - Pay-as-you-go

Question 34

How does blockchain prevent fraud in insurance

Answer 34

Eliminating double-booking, or processing multiple claims from the same incident Establishing ownership through digital certificates Reducing premium diversion, for example, in the case of unlicensed brokers selling insurance and pocketing premiums

Question 35

Explain B31

Answer 35

Reinsurance market initiative - aims to explore the use of blockchain to serve clients through faster, more efficient and secured services. Members are trying to assess how blockchain tech can be established as a viable tool for the reinsurance industry

Question 36

Explain EIS and what capabilities they need to have

Answer 36

Executive Information System (EIS) – a specialised IS that supports senior-level executives within the organization. Executives need to understand huge amounts of data quickly Most EISs offer the following capabilities: – Consolidation (reduce quantity) – Drill-down (look in more detail at one area) – Slice-and-dice (selection

Question 37

Explain a digital dashboard

Answer 37

A graphic that integrates information form multiple components - turning data into information. Can have dense information but must not be cluttered - must be easy to view

Question 38

What is business intelligence?

Answer 38

Infrastructure for collecting, storing, analyzing data produced by business ex:Databases, data warehouses, data marts

Question 39

What is business analytics

Answer 39

Tools and techniques for analyzing data ex: OLAP (online analytical processing), statistics, models, data mining

Question 40

What are six elements of the business intelligence environment

Answer 40

– Data from the business environment ex: web data, social media – Business intelligence infrastructure ex: databases – Business analytics toolset ex: models, OLAP – Managerial users and methods. Strategy, performance management – Delivery platform—MIS, DSS, ESS – User interface: Data visualisation tools

Question 41

What are the main analytic functionalities of BI systems?

Answer 41

– Production reports – Parameterised reports – Dashboards/scorecards – Ad hoc query/search/report creation – Drill down – Forecasts, scenarios, models

Question 42

What is the overall goal and mission of BI and business analytics?

Answer 42

To deliver accurate real time information to decision makers

Question 43

Who uses BI info?

Answer 43

The producers of BI - IT developers, business analysts, analytical modellers Consumers of BI (majority) - operational employees, senior managers, business analysts, staff

Question 44

What is the difficulty of a visual as a pie chart over a abr chart?

Answer 44

The human eye can tell the difference between two bars of marginally different height, but cannot tell the difference between two marginally different segments

Question 45

What do you need to know about Data to use it for making decisions

Answer 45

– Where did data come from? – Who provided it and why? – How was it collected? – How was it subsequently processed? - may lead to bias