Scis.regis.edu ● [email protected] CIS 480/BA 479: Managing Technology for Business Strategies Week 2 Dr. Jesús Borrego Regis University 1.

scis.regis.edu ● [email protected]

CIS 480/BA 479: Managing Technology for Business

Strategies

Week 2

Dr. Jesús BorregoRegis University

1

Agenda

•Review of Homework 1•Group Project•Chapters 4, 5 and 6•Homework 2

2

Chapter 4

3

Ethical and Social Issues in Information Ethical and Social Issues in Information SystemsSystems

• Problem: Need to efficiently target online ads.• Solutions: Behavioral targeting allows businesses

and organizations to more precisely target desired demographics.

• Google uses tracking files to monitor user activity on thousands of sites; businesses monitor activity on their own sites to better understand customers.

• Demonstrates IT’s role in organizing and distributing information.

• Illustrates the ethical questions inherent in online information gathering.

Behavioral Targeting

•Recent cases of failed ethical judgment in business:▫Examples?▫In many, information systems used to bury

decisions from public scrutiny•Ethics

▫Principles of right and wrong that individuals, acting as free moral agents, use to make choices to guide their behaviors

Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems

•Information systems raise new ethical questions because they create opportunities for:▫Intense social change, threatening

existing distributions of power, money, rights, and obligations

▫New kinds of crime

Information systems and ethics

•A model▫Society as a calm pond▫IT as rock dropped in pond, creating

ripples of new situations not covered by old rules

▫Social and political institutions cannot respond overnight to these ripples—it may take years to develop etiquette, expectations, laws Requires understanding of ethics to make

choices in legally gray areas

Ethical, social, and political Issues

•Information rights and obligations

•Property rights and obligations•Accountability and control•System quality•Quality of life

Moral dimensions of the information age:

•Doubling of computer power▫ More organizations depend on computer systems

for critical operations.

•Rapidly declining data storage costs▫ Organizations can easily maintain detailed

databases on individuals.

•Networking advances and the Internet▫ Copying data from one location to another and

accessing personal data from remote locations are much easier.

Key technology trends that raise ethical issues

▫Advances in data analysis techniques Profiling

Combining data from multiple sources to create dossiers of detailed information on individuals

Nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA) Combining data from multiple sources to find

obscure hidden connections that might help identify criminals or terrorists

▫Mobile device growth Tracking of individual cell phones

Privacy Issues

NORA technology can take information about people from disparate sources and find obscure, nonobvious relationships. It might discover, for example, that an applicant for a job at a casino shares a telephone number with a known criminal and issue an alert to the hiring manager.

Figure 4-2

•NONOBVIOUS RELATIONSHIP AWARENESS (NORA)

•Responsibility: ▫ Accepting the potential costs, duties, and

obligations for decisions

•Accountability: ▫ Mechanisms for identifying responsible parties

•Liability: ▫ Permits individuals (and firms) to recover damages

done to them

•Due process: ▫ Laws are well-known and understood, with an

ability to appeal to higher authorities

Basic concepts for ethical analysis

1. Identify and clearly describe the facts.2. Define the conflict or dilemma and

identify the higher-order values involved.

3. Identify the stakeholders.4. Identify the options that you can

reasonably take.5. Identify the potential consequences of

your options.

Five-step ethical analysis

Ethics in business and IT VideosTake notes •Chuck Gallagher on business ethics - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUJ00vNGCPE (14 min.)•Professor Rick Shreve (Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business) –

▫http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7sPDHrHj8c (10 min.)

▫http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CPMlQUyr_Y (6 min.)

14

•Golden Rule▫Do unto others as you would have them do

unto you.•Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative

▫If an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for anyone.

•Descartes’ Rule of Change▫If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is

not right to take at all.

Candidate ethical principles

•Utilitarian Principle▫Take the action that achieves the higher or

greater value.•Risk Aversion Principle

▫Take the action that produces the least harm or potential cost.

•Ethical “No Free Lunch” Rule▫Assume that virtually all tangible and

intangible objects are owned by someone unless there is a specific declaration otherwise.

Candidate ethical principles (cont.)

•Professional codes of conduct▫Promulgated by associations of professionals

Examples: AMA, ABA, AITP, ACM▫Promises by professions to regulate

themselves in the general interest of society•Real-world ethical dilemmas

▫One set of interests pitted against another Example: right of company to maximize

productivity of workers versus workers right to use Internet for short personal tasks

Ethics in an Information Society

• Information rights: privacy and freedom in the Internet age▫Privacy:

Claim of individuals to be left alone, free from surveillance or interference from other individuals, organizations, or state; claim to be able to control information about yourself

▫In the United States, privacy protected by: First Amendment (freedom of speech) Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search and

seizure) Additional federal statues (e.g., Privacy Act of 1974)

The Moral Dimensions of IS

•Fair information practices: ▫Set of principles governing the collection and use of

information Basis of most U.S. and European privacy laws Based on mutuality of interest between record holder and

individual Restated and extended by FTC in 1998 to provide guidelines for

protecting online privacy▫Used to drive changes in privacy legislation

COPPA Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act HIPAA Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011

The Moral Dimensions of IS

•Principles: ▫Notice/awareness (core principle)

Web sites must disclose practices before collecting data.

▫Choice/consent (core principle) Consumers must be able to choose how

information is used for secondary purposes.▫Access/participation

Consumers must be able to review and contest accuracy of personal data.

Fair Information Practices

•Security ▫Data collectors must take steps to ensure

accuracy, security of personal data.•Enforcement

▫Must be mechanism to enforce FIP principles.

Fair Information Practices (Cont’d)

•Companies must inform people information is collected and disclose how it is stored and used.

•Requires informed consent of customer.•EU member nations cannot transfer personal

data to countries without similar privacy protection (e.g., the United States).

•U.S. businesses use safe harbor framework.▫Self-regulating policy and enforcement that meets

objectives of government legislation but does not involve government regulation or enforcement.

European Directive on Data Protection

•Cookies▫ Identify browser and track visits to site▫ Super cookies (Flash cookies)

•Web beacons (Web bugs)▫ Tiny graphics embedded in e-mails and Web pages▫ Monitor who is reading e-mail message or visiting site

•Spyware▫ Surreptitiously installed on user’s computer▫ May transmit user’s keystrokes or display unwanted ads

•Google services and behavioral targeting

Internet challenges to privacy

Cookies are written by a Web site on a visitor’s hard drive. When the visitor returns to that Web site, the Web server requests the ID number from the cookie and uses it to access the data stored by that server on that visitor. The Web site can then use these data to display personalized information.

Figure 4-3

HOW COOKIES IDENTIFY WEB VISITORS

•The United States allows businesses to gather transaction information and use this for other marketing purposes.▫ Opt-out vs. opt-in model

•Online industry promotes self-regulation over privacy legislation.

•However, extent of responsibility taken varies:▫ Complex/ambiguous privacy statements▫ Opt-out models selected over opt-in▫ Online “seals” of privacy principles

Moral Dimensions of IS

•E-mail encryption•Anonymity tools•Anti-spyware tools•Browser features

▫“Private” browsing ▫“Do not track” options

•Overall, few technical solutions

Technical solutions

•Why do mobile phone manufacturers (Apple, Google, and BlackBerry) want to track where their customers go?

•Do you think mobile phone customers should be able to turn tracking off? Should customers be informed when they are being tracked? Why or why not?

•Do you think mobile phone tracking is a violation of a person’s privacy

Mobile Technologies

• Intellectual property: intangible property of any kind created by individuals or corporations

•Three main ways that intellectual property is protected: ▫Trade secret: intellectual work or product

belonging to business, not in the public domain▫Copyright: statutory grant protecting

intellectual property from being copied for the life of the author, plus 70 years

▫Patents: grants creator of invention an exclusive monopoly on ideas behind invention for 20 years

Property Rights: Intellectual Property

•Challenges▫Digital media different from physical media

(e.g., books) Ease of replication Ease of transmission (networks, Internet) Difficulty in classifying software Compactness Difficulties in establishing uniqueness

•Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)▫Makes it illegal to circumvent technology-

based protections of copyrighted materials

Intellectual Property Rights

•Computer-related liability problems▫If software fails, who is responsible?

If seen as part of machine that injures or harms, software producer and operator may be liable.

If seen as similar to book, difficult to hold author/publisher responsible.

What should liability be if software seen as service? Would this be similar to telephone systems not being liable for transmitted messages?

Accountability, liability, control

•Data quality and system errors▫What is an acceptable, technologically

feasible level of system quality? Flawless software is economically unfeasible.

▫Three principal sources of poor system performance: Software bugs, errors Hardware or facility failures Poor input data quality (most common source

of business system failure)

System Quality

•Equity, access, boundaries▫Negative social consequences of systems

Balancing power: although computing power decentralizing, key decision making remains centralized

Rapidity of change: businesses may not have enough time to respond to global competition

Maintaining boundaries: computing, Internet use lengthens work-day, infringes on family, personal time

Dependence and vulnerability: public and private organizations ever more dependent on computer systems

Quality of Life

•Computer crime and abuse▫ Computer crime: commission of illegal acts through use

of computer or against a computer system—computer may be object or instrument of crime

▫ Computer abuse: unethical acts, not illegal Spam: high costs for businesses in dealing with spam

•Employment: ▫ Reengineering work resulting in lost jobs

•Equity and access—the digital divide: ▫ Certain ethnic and income groups in the United States

less likely to have computers or Internet access

Moral Dimensions of IS

•What is it?•How does information technology affect

socioeconomic disparities?•Why is access to technology insufficient to

eliminate the digital divide?•How serious a problem is the “new” digital

divide?•Why is the digital divide problem an

ethical dilemma?

Digital Divide

Chapter 5

35

IT Infrastructure and Emerging IT Infrastructure and Emerging TechnologiesTechnologies

•Set of physical devices and software required to operate enterprise

•Set of firmwide services including:▫ Computing platforms providing computing services▫ Telecommunications services▫ Data management services▫ Application software services▫ Physical facilities management services▫ IT management, education, and other services

•“Service platform” perspective▫ More accurate view of value of investments

IT Infrastructure

The services a firm is capable of providing to its customers, suppliers, and employees are a direct function of its IT infrastructure. Ideally, this infrastructure should support the firm’s business and information systems strategy. New information technologies have a powerful impact on business and IT strategies, as well as the services that can be provided to customers.

FIGURE 5-1

CONNECTION BETWEEN THE FIRM, IT INFRASTRUCTURE, AND BUSINESS CAPABILITIES

•General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era: 1959 to present▫ 1958: IBM first mainframes introduced▫ 1965: less expensive DEC minicomputers introduced

•Personal computer era: 1981 to present▫ 1981: Introduction of IBM PC▫ Proliferation in 80s, 90s resulted in growth of personal

software

•Client/server era: 1983 to present▫ Desktop clients networked to servers, with processing work

split between clients and servers▫ Network may be two-tiered or multitiered (N-tiered)▫ Various types of servers (network, application, Web)

Evolution of IT Infrastructure

•Enterprise computing era: 1992 to present▫Move toward integrating disparate

networks, applications using Internet standards and enterprise applications

•Cloud and mobile computing: 2000 to present▫Cloud computing: computing power and

software applications supplied over the Internet or other network Fastest growing form of computing

Evolution of IT Infrastructure (Cont’d)

Illustrated here are the typical computing configurations characterizing each of the five eras of IT infrastructure evolution.

STAGES IN IT INFRASTRUCTURE EVOLUTION

FIGURE 5-2

Illustrated here are the typical computing configurations characterizing each of the five eras of IT infrastructure evolution.

STAGES IN IT INFRASTRUCTURE EVOLUTION (cont.)

FIGURE 5-2

In a multitiered client/server network, client requests for service are handled by different levels of servers.FIGURE 5-3

A MULTITIERED CLIENT/SERVER NETWORK (N-TIER)

•Moore’s law and microprocessing power▫Computing power doubles every 18

months▫Nanotechnology:

Shrinks size of transistors to size comparable to size of a virus

•Law of Mass Digital Storage▫The amount of data being stored each

year doubles

Technology drivers of infrastructure evolution

Packing more than 2 billion transistors into a tiny microprocessor has exponentially increased processing power. Processing power has increased to more than 500,000 MIPS (millions of instructions per second).

FIGURE 5-4

MOORE’S LAW AND MICROPROCESSOR PERFORMANCE

Packing more transistors into less space has driven down transistor cost dramatically as well as the cost of the products in which they are used.

FALLING COST OF CHIPS

FIGURE 5-5

Nanotubes are tiny tubes about 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. They consist of rolled up sheets of carbon hexagons and have the potential uses as minuscule wires or in ultrasmall electronic devices and are very powerful conductors of electrical current.

FIGURE 5-6

EXAMPLES OF NANOTUBES

Since the first magnetic storage device was used in 1955, the cost of storing a kilobyte of data has fallen exponentially, doubling the amount of digital storage for each dollar expended every 15 months on average.

FIGURE 5-7

THE COST OF STORING DATA DECLINES EXPONENTIALLY 1950–2012

•Metcalfe’s Law and network economics▫Value or power of a network grows

exponentially as a function of the number of network members

▫As network members increase, more people want to use it (demand for network access increases)

Infrastructure Evolution

–Declining communication costs and the Internet• An estimated 2.3 billion people

worldwide have Internet access• As communication costs fall toward a

very small number and approach 0, utilization of communication and computing facilities explodes


One reason for the growth in the Internet population is the rapid decline in Internet connection and overall communication costs. The cost per kilobit of Internet access has fallen exponentially since 1995. Digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable modems now deliver a kilobit of communication for a retail price of around 2 cents.

FIGURE 5-8

EXPONENTIAL DECLINES IN INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS COSTS

–Standards and network effects• Technology standards:

–Specifications that establish the compatibility of products and the ability to communicate in a network

–Unleash powerful economies of scale and result in price declines as manufacturers focus on the products built to a single standard


• Seven main components1. Computer hardware platforms 2. Operating system platforms3. Enterprise software applications4. Data management and storage5. Networking/telecommunications

platforms6. Internet platforms7. Consulting system integration services

Infrastructure Components

There are seven major components that must be coordinated to provide the firm with a coherent IT infrastructure. Listed here are major technologies and suppliers for each component.

FIGURE 5-9

THE IT INFRASTRUCTURE ECOSYSTEM

•Client machines▫Desktop PCs, mobile devices—PDAs,

laptops•Servers

▫Blade servers: ultrathin computers stored in racks

•Mainframes:▫IBM mainframe equivalent to thousands of

blade servers•Top chip producers: AMD, Intel, IBM•Top firms: IBM, HP, Dell, Sun

Microsystems

Computer hardware platforms

•Operating system platforms▫Operating systems

Server level: 65% run Unix or Linux; 35% run Windows

Client level: 90% run Microsoft Windows (XP, 2000, CE, etc.) Mobile/multitouch (Android, iOS) Cloud computing (Google’s Chrome OS)

•Enterprise software applications▫Enterprise application providers: SAP and

Oracle▫Middleware providers: BEA


• Data management and storage–Database software:

• IBM (DB2), Oracle, Microsoft (SQL Server), Sybase (Adaptive Server Enterprise), MySQL

–Physical data storage: • EMC Corp (large-scale systems), Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital

–Storage area networks (SANs): • Connect multiple storage devices on dedicated network


• Networking/telecommunications platforms–Telecommunication services

• Telecommunications, cable, telephone company charges for voice lines and Internet access

• AT&T, Verizon–Network operating systems:

• Windows Server, Linux, Unix–Network hardware providers:

• Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel, Juniper Networks


• Internet platforms–Hardware, software, management

services to support company Web sites, (including Web-hosting services) intranets, extranets

– Internet hardware server market: IBM, Dell, Sun (Oracle), HP

–Web development tools/suites: Microsoft (Expression Studio, .NET) Oracle-Sun (Java), Adobe, Real Networks


• The mobile digital platform–Cell phones, smartphones (iPhone,

Android, and Blackberry) • Data transmission, Web surfing, e-mail, and IM duties

–Netbooks: • Small lightweight notebooks optimized for wireless communication and core tasks

–Tablets (iPad)–Networked e-readers (Kindle and Nook)

BYOD

•BYOD (Bring your own device)▫Allowing employees to use personal mobile

devices in workplace•Consumerization of IT

▫New information technology emerges in consumer markets first and spreads to business organizations

▫Forces businesses and IT departments to rethink how IT equipment and services are acquired and managed

Computer hardware platforms

•What are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing employees to use their personal smartphones for work?

•What management, organization, and technology factors should be addressed when deciding whether to allow employees to use their personal smartphones for work?

•Allowing employees to use their own smartphones for work will save the company money. Do you agree?

BYOD in the Enterprise

• Grid computing– Connects geographically remote computers

into a single network to combine processing power and create virtual supercomputer

– Provides cost savings, speed, agility• Virtualization

– Allows single physical resource to act as multiple resources (i.e., run multiple instances of OS)

– Reduces hardware and power expenditures– Facilitates hardware centralization

Platform Trends

• Cloud computing– On-demand (utility) computing services

obtained over network • Infrastructure as a service• Platform as a service• Software as a service

– Cloud can be public or private– Allows companies to minimize IT

investments– Drawbacks: Concerns of security, reliability– Hybrid cloud computing model

Platform Trends

In cloud computing, hardware and software capabilities are a pool of virtualized resources provided over a network, often the Internet. Businesses and employees have access to applications and IT infrastructure anywhere, at any time, and on any device.

Figure 5-10

CLOUD COMPUTING PLATFORM

• Green computing– Practices and technologies for manufacturing,

using, disposing of computing and networking hardware

• High performance, power-saving processors– Multi-core processors

• Autonomic computing– Industry-wide effort to develop systems that can

configure, heal themselves when broken, and protect themselves from outside intruders

– Similar to self-updating antivirus software; Apple and Microsoft both use automatic updates

Platform Trends

•Open-source software: ▫Produced by community of programmers▫Free and modifiable by user▫Examples: Apache web server, Mozilla

Firefox browser, OpenOffice•Linux

▫Open-source OS▫Used in mobile devices, local area

networks, Web servers, high-performance computing

Platform Trends

•Software for the Web▫Java:

Object-oriented programming language Operating system, processor-independent

▫HTML/HTML5 Web page description language Specifies how text, graphics are placed on Web

page HTML5 is latest evolution

Includes animation and video processing functionality previously provided by third party add-ons such as Flash

Software Trends

•Web Services▫Software components that exchange

information using Web standards and languages

▫XML: Extensible Markup Language More powerful and flexible than HTML Tagging allows computers to process data

automatically

Software Trends

•SOA: Service-oriented architecture▫Set of self-contained services that

communicate with each other to create a working software application

▫Software developers reuse these services in other combinations to assemble other applications as needed Example: an “invoice service” to serve whole

firm for calculating and sending printed invoices

▫Dollar Rent A Car Uses Web services to link online booking

system with Southwest Airlines’ Web site

Software Trends

Dollar Rent A Car uses Web services to provide a standard intermediate layer of software to “talk” to other companies’ information systems. Dollar Rent A Car can use this set of Web services to link to other companies’ information systems without having to build a separate link to each firm’s systems.

FIGURE 5-11

HOW DOLLAR RENT A CAR USES WEB SERVICES

•Software outsourcing and cloud services▫Three external sources for software:

Software packages and enterprise software Software outsourcing

Contracting outside firms to develop software Cloud-based software services

Software as a service (SaaS) Accessed with Web browser over Internet Service Level Agreements (SLAs): formal

agreement with service providers

Software Trends

In 2012, U.S. firms will spend more than $279 billion on software. About 35 percent of that ($98 billion) will originate outside the firm, either from enterprise software vendors selling firmwide applications or individual application service providers leasing or selling software modules. Another 4 percent ($11 billion) will be provided by SaaS vendors as an online cloud-based service.

Figure 5-12

CHANGING SOURCES OF FIRM SOFTWARE

• Software outsourcing and cloud services (cont.)– Mashups

• Combinations of two or more online applications, such as combining mapping software (Google Maps) with local content

– Apps• Small pieces of software that run on the

Internet, on your computer, or on your cell phone – iPhone, Android

• Generally delivered over the Internet

Contemporary Software Platform Trends

• Dealing with platform and infrastructure change– As firms shrink or grow, IT needs to be flexible

and scalable– Scalability:

• Ability to expand to serve larger number of users

– For mobile computing and cloud computing • New policies and procedures for managing

these new platforms• Contractual agreements with firms running

clouds and distributing software required

Management Issues

–Who controls IT infrastructure?–How should IT department be

organized?• Centralized

– Central IT department makes decisions• Decentralized

– Business unit IT departments make own decisions

–How are costs allocated between divisions, departments?

Management and Governance

•Amount to spend on IT is complex question▫ Rent vs. buy, cloud computing▫ Outsourcing

•Total cost of ownership (TCO) model ▫ Analyzes direct and indirect costs▫ Hardware, software account for only about 20% of TCO▫ Other costs: Installation, training, support, maintenance,

infrastructure, downtime, space, and energy

•TCO can be reduced▫ Use of cloud services, greater centralization and

standardization of hardware and software resources

IT Investment

Chapter 6

77

Foundations of Business Intelligence: Foundations of Business Intelligence: Databases and Information ManagementDatabases and Information Management

• File organization concepts– Database: Group of related files– File: Group of records of same type – Record: Group of related fields– Field: Group of characters as word(s) or number

• Describes an entity (person, place, thing on which we store information)

• Attribute: Each characteristic, or quality, describing entity– Example: Attributes DATE or GRADE belong to entity COURSE

Data Organization

A computer system organizes data in a hierarchy that starts with the bit, which represents either a 0 or a 1. Bits can be grouped to form a byte to represent one character, number, or symbol. Bytes can be grouped to form a field, and related fields can be grouped to form a record. Related records can be collected to form a file, and related files can be organized into a database.

FIGURE 6-1

THE DATA HIERARCHY

• Problems with the traditional file environment (files maintained separately by different departments)– Data redundancy:

• Presence of duplicate data in multiple files– Data inconsistency:

• Same attribute has different values– Program-data dependence:

• When changes in program requires changes to data accessed by program

– Lack of flexibility– Poor security– Lack of data sharing and availability

Organizing Data in a Traditional File Environment

The use of a traditional approach to file processing encourages each functional area in a corporation to develop specialized applications. Each application requires a unique data file that is likely to be a subset of the master file. These subsets of the master file lead to data redundancy and inconsistency, processing inflexibility, and wasted storage resources.FIGURE 6-2

TRADITIONAL FILE PROCESSING

• Database– Serves many applications by centralizing data and

controlling redundant data

• Database management system (DBMS)– Interfaces between applications and physical data files– Separates logical and physical views of data– Solves problems of traditional file environment

• Controls redundancy• Eliminates inconsistency• Uncouples programs and data• Enables organization to central manage data and data security

The Database Approach to Data Management

A single human resources database provides many different views of data, depending on the information requirements of the user. Illustrated here are two possible views, one of interest to a benefits specialist and one of interest to a member of the company’s payroll department.

FIGURE 6-3

HUMAN RESOURCES DATABASE WITH MULTIPLE VIEWS

• Relational DBMS– Represent data as two-dimensional tables – Each table contains data on entity and attributes

• Table: grid of columns and rows– Rows (tuples): Records for different entities– Fields (columns): Represents attribute for entity– Key field: Field used to uniquely identify each record– Primary key: Field in table used for key fields– Foreign key: Primary key used in second table as look-up field to

identify records from original table


A relational database organizes data in the form of two-dimensional tables. Illustrated here are tables for the entities SUPPLIER and PART showing how they represent each entity and its attributes. Supplier Number is a primary key for the SUPPLIER table and a foreign key for the PART table.

FIGURE 6-4

Relational Database Tables

• Operations of a Relational DBMS– Three basic operations used to develop useful

sets of data• SELECT: Creates subset of data of all records that

meet stated criteria• JOIN: Combines relational tables to provide user

with more information than available in individual tables

• PROJECT: Creates subset of columns in table, creating tables with only the information specified


The select, join, and project operations enable data from two different tables to be combined and only selected attributes to be displayed.

FIGURE 6-5

THE THREE BASIC OPERATIONS OF A RELATIONAL DBMS

•Non-relational databases: “NoSQL”▫More flexible data model▫Data sets stored across distributed machines ▫Easier to scale▫Handle large volumes of unstructured and structured data (Web, social media, graphics)

•Databases in the cloud▫Typically, less functionality than on-premises DBs▫Amazon Relational Database Service, Microsoft SQL Azure▫Private clouds


• Capabilities of database management systems– Data definition capability: Specifies structure of database

content, used to create tables and define characteristics of fields

– Data dictionary: Automated or manual file storing definitions of data elements and their characteristics

– Data manipulation language: Used to add, change, delete, retrieve data from database • Structured Query Language (SQL)• Microsoft Access user tools for generating SQL

– Many DBMS have report generation capabilities for creating polished reports (Crystal Reports)


Microsoft Access has a rudimentary data dictionary capability that displays information about the size, format, and other characteristics of each field in a database. Displayed here is the information maintained in the SUPPLIER table. The small key icon to the left of Supplier_Number indicates that it is a key field.

FIGURE 6-6

MICROSOFT ACCESS DATA DICTIONARY FEATURES

Illustrated here are the SQL statements for a query to select suppliers for parts 137 or 150. They produce a list with the same results as Figure 6-5.

FIGURE 6-7

EXAMPLE OF AN SQL QUERY

Illustrated here is how the query in Figure 6-7 would be constructed using Microsoft Access query buildingtools. It shows the tables, fields, and selection criteria used for the query.FIGURE 6-8

AN ACCESS QUERY

• Designing Databases– Conceptual (logical) design: abstract model from business perspective– Physical design: How database is arranged on direct-access storage

devices

• Design process identifies:– Relationships among data elements, redundant database elements– Most efficient way to group data elements to meet business

requirements, needs of application programs

• Normalization– Streamlining complex groupings of data to minimize redundant data

elements and awkward many-to-many relationships


An unnormalized relation contains repeating groups. For example, there can be many parts and suppliers for each order. There is only a one-to-one correspondence between Order_Number and Order_Date.

FIGURE 6-9

AN UNNORMALIZED RELATION FOR ORDER

After normalization, the original relation ORDER has been broken down into four smaller relations. The relation ORDER is left with only two attributes and the relation LINE_ITEM has a combined, or concatenated, key consisting of Order_Number and Part_Number.

FIGURE 6-10

NORMALIZED TABLES CREATED FROM ORDER

•Referential integrity rules• Used by RDMS to ensure relationships between tables

remain consistent

•Entity-relationship diagram▫Used by database designers to document the data model▫ Illustrates relationships between entities

–Caution: If a business doesn’t get data model right, system won’t be able to serve business well


This diagram shows the relationships between the entities SUPPLIER, PART, LINE_ITEM, and ORDER that might be used to model the database in Figure 6-10.

FIGURE 6-11

AN ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM

• Big data• Massive sets of unstructured/semi-structured data

from Web traffic, social media, sensors, and so on• Petabytes, exabytes of data

• Volumes too great for typical DBMS• Can reveal more patterns and anomalies

Using Databases to Improve Business Performance and Decision Making

•Business intelligence infrastructure▫Today includes an array of tools for separate systems,

and big data

•Contemporary tools:▫Data warehouses▫Data marts▫Hadoop▫In-memory computing▫Analytical platforms


• Data warehouse: – Stores current and historical data from many core

operational transaction systems– Consolidates and standardizes information for use across

enterprise, but data cannot be altered– Provides analysis and reporting tools

• Data marts: – Subset of data warehouse– Summarized or focused portion of data for use by specific

population of users– Typically focuses on single subject or line of business


A contemporary business intelligence infrastructure features capabilities and tools to manage andanalyze large quantities and different types of data from multiple sources. Easy-to-use query andreporting tools for casual business users and more sophisticated analytical toolsets for power usersare included.

FIGURE 6-12

COMPONENTS OF A DATA WAREHOUSE

•Hadoop▫Enables distributed parallel processing of big data

across inexpensive computers▫Key services

Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS): data storage MapReduce: breaks data into clusters for work Hbase: NoSQL database

▫Used by Facebook, Yahoo, NextBio


•In-memory computing▫Used in big data analysis▫Use computers main memory (RAM) for data storage

to avoid delays in retrieving data from disk storage▫Can reduce hours/days of processing to seconds▫Requires optimized hardware

•Analytic platforms▫High-speed platforms using both relational and non-

relational tools optimized for large datasets


• Analytical tools: Relationships, patterns, trends– Tools for consolidating, analyzing, and providing

access to vast amounts of data to help users make better business decisions• Multidimensional data analysis (OLAP)• Data mining• Text mining• Web mining


• Online analytical processing (OLAP)– Supports multidimensional data analysis

• Viewing data using multiple dimensions• Each aspect of information (product, pricing, cost, region,

time period) is different dimension• Example: How many washers sold in East in June

compared with other regions?– OLAP enables rapid, online answers to ad hoc queries


The view that is showing is product versus region. If you rotate the cube 90 degrees, the face that will show product versus actual and projected sales. If you rotate the cube 90 degrees again, you will see region versus actual and projected sales. Other views are possible.FIGURE 6-13

MULTIDIMENSIONAL DATA MODEL

•Data mining:▫Finds hidden patterns, relationships in datasets

Example: customer buying patterns▫Infers rules to predict future behavior▫Types of information obtainable from data mining:

Associations Sequences Classification Clustering Forecasting


•Text mining▫Extracts key elements from large unstructured data

sets Stored e-mails Call center transcripts Legal cases Patent descriptions Service reports, and so on

▫Sentiment analysis software Mines e-mails, blogs, social media to detect opinions


• Web mining– Discovery and analysis of useful patterns and

information from Web– Understand customer behavior– Evaluate effectiveness of Web site, and so on

– Web content mining• Mines content of Web pages

– Web structure mining• Analyzes links to and from Web page

– Web usage mining• Mines user interaction data recorded by Web server


• Databases and the Web– Many companies use Web to make some internal

databases available to customers or partners– Typical configuration includes:

• Web server• Application server/middleware/CGI scripts• Database server (hosting DBMS)

– Advantages of using Web for database access:• Ease of use of browser software• Web interface requires few or no changes to database• Inexpensive to add Web interface to system


Users access an organization’s internal database through the Web using their desktop PCs and Web browser software.

FIGURE 6-14

LINKING INTERNAL DATABASES TO THE WEB

•Establishing an information policy▫Firm’s rules, procedures, roles for sharing, managing,

standardizing data▫Data administration

Establishes policies and procedures to manage data

▫Data governance Deals with policies and processes for managing availability, usability,

integrity, and security of data, especially regarding government regulations

▫Database administration Creating and maintaining database

Managing Data Resources

• Ensuring data quality – More than 25% of critical data in Fortune 1000

company databases are inaccurate or incomplete– Redundant data– Inconsistent data– Faulty input

– Before new database in place, need to:• Identify and correct faulty data • Establish better routines for editing data once

database in operation


• Data quality audit:– Structured survey of the accuracy and level of

completeness of the data in an information system• Survey samples from data files, or• Survey end users for perceptions of quality

• Data cleansing– Software to detect and correct data that are

incorrect, incomplete, improperly formatted, or redundant

– Enforces consistency among different sets of data from separate information systems


HW 2 – IT and Ethics• There have been a number of headline examples

recently that have discussed the disregard for ethics in an organization.

• The role of ethics in an organization is an important component of the culture of an organization and impacts the way Information Technology develops, manages, and distributes data.

• Based on the readings this week as well as your own personal experiences, write a three-to-five page paper on the topic of IT and Ethics.

• Be sure to include a minimum of two resources in your paper.

• You may use examples from your own work. • Be sure to use APA style format for your paper115

Questions?

116

Scis.regis.edu ● [email protected] CIS 480/BA 479: Managing Technology for Business Strategies Week 2 Dr. Jesús Borrego Regis University 1.

Documents

ethics slide

information rights

ethical issues

online information

information age

behavioral targeting

social issues

new ethical questions