Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Case Study Questions:


1. What are some of the key requirements for building a good data warehouse? Use Henry Schein Inc. as an example.

ans.
a. A database management system is a set of computer programs that controls the creation, maintenance, and use of the databases of an organization. Major uses are database development, Datebase interrogation,database maintenance, and development of application programs.
b. Key requirements would include:
*Those involved in building the dta warehouse should have the right skills and experience.
*Determine on the front-end the information the potential business users need access to and the reports they want to see.
*Analyze the old paper reports and the condition of the housed in the company's core transaction system.
*Standardize transactional codes in order to produce reports needed.
*Developing and testing summary tables to make queries work faster.



2. What are the key software tools needed to construct and use a data warehouse?


ans.
*Data extraction software.
*User query and reporting software.
*Data transformation and loading software.




3. What are the business value of a data warehouse to Henry Schein? To any company?


ans.
*Determine the most profitable customers.
*Determine which customers to target with special promotion offers.
*Analyze the business by product category, sales territory,etc.
*Determine which customers should be included in specific direct marketing efforts.
*Ability of a user to add more fields to reports as they are using the system.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Case Study Questions and Answers:
1. Why do you think that Aviall failed in their implementation of an enterprise resource planning system? What could they have done differently?

Answer: Reasons why Aviall failed would include:

The ERP system did not support adequately Aviall's business strategies.
The ERP implemented did not improve the basic operational support system needed be Aviall to provide timely supply chain management.
The ERP system project did not adequately address the issue of systems integration between applications.
The implementation of the ERP failed due to inadequate consideration of the magnitude of the project.

What Aviall could have done differently would include the following:

Project planning through the use of some form of a systematic development process.
Analysis of the business requirements prior to making decisions about the software to acquire for the ERP system.
Project management should have been a higher consideration of Aviall.

2. How has information technology brought new business success to Aviall? How did IT change Aviall’s business model?

Answer: How IT brought new business success for Aviall would include:
System integrated by using common business databases managed by database software from Sybase, Inc.
Designing the new combined system to properly access and deal with customized pricing charts for 17,000 customers who receive various types of discounts, and with an inventory of 380,000 different aerospace parts.


Developing Aviall.com to reduce the cost per order from $9 per transaction to 39 cents.
Customers are able to transfer their orders from an Excel spreadsheet directly to the web site.
Customers have access to price and availability information in less thatn five seconds - a real time feature.
Sales force spends more time developing customer relationships than processing routine orders.
Aviall can bettermatch production to demand from the IT improvements.
How IT changed Aviall's business model would include:
Changed Aviall from a catalogbusiness to full-scale logistics business.
Aviall became a provider of supply chain management services through the integration of a range of Web-enabled e-business software systems.

3. How could other companies use Aviall’s approach to the use of IT to improve their business success? Give several examples.

Answer: Examples would include:

Reposition a firm as a supply chain management services provider through Web-enabled e-business software systems.
Redesign the customer relationship management system to minimize the routine order processing and permit the sales force to focus on product and service development efforts that will grow revenue.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Case Study No. 2


1. Are many of Lufthansa’s challenges identified in the case similar to those being experienced by other businesses in today’s global economy? Explain and provide some examples.


answer:
Yes, the challenges which are identified in the case faced by Lufthansa are similar to those being experienced by other businesses in today’s global economy. Companies need to provide their employees access to work and training outside of the office.Today's businesses also face challenges such as communicating efficiently between large groups of employees.



2. What other tangible and intangible benefits, beyond those identified by Lufthansa, might a mobile workforce enjoy as a result of deploying mobile technologies? Explain.


answer:
Tangible benefits would include a laptop or other technologies to use for work at home.
Also, costs will decrease for the company because they would no longer need to pay for training facilities, paper copies of training manuals, travel and teachers.Intangible benefits are benefits we can have too but we could not have it physically but we can observe it. It includes more productivity, time-efficient and well-trained employees that would fit and enjoy a more flexible work environment.


3. Lufthansa was clearly taking a big risk with their decision to deploy notebook computers to their pilots. What steps did they take to manage that risk and what others might be needed in today’s business environment? Provide some examples.


answer:
Lufthansa created a list of parameters that notebook PCs needed to meet before purchasing the laptops. They created their own secure network.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Case Study Questions And Answers:

1. Could the 2004 Athens Olympics have been a success without all of the networks and backup technologies?

answer:For me, Not really successful because the major events depends on the said system that Atos Origin developed.


2. The 2004 Olympics is a global business. Can a business today succeed without information technology? Why or why not?

Answer: Yes, There are some business that succeed without information technologies but ,developing an on-line business would help businessmens increase their profit.


3. Claude Philipps said dealing with “crazy scenarios of what might happen in every area: a network problem, staff stopped in a traffic jam, a security attack . . . everything that might happen,” was the reason for so much testing. Can you think of other businesses that would require “crazy scenario” testing? Explain.

Answer: