9 Information Systems and Technologies for Organizational Performance

Question 1

What changes has new technology brought

Answer 1

• Permanent and persistent connectivity
  o Work emails follow you
• Increased amount of data
  o Emergence of big data
• Decreased costs of cloud computing and IT infrastructure
• Global value chains
• Move away from companies providing physical assets to online services

Question 2

How must small businesses respond to big businesses taking on new technology

Answer 2

• Need to be open 24/7 to compete
• Online allows them to do this
• Also online only lowers overheads and allows faster growth

Question 3

How has new technology changed income streams

Answer 3

• Shift in revenue to that which comes from subscriptions and advertising based revenue
• Along with the harvesting and sale of consumer data

Question 4

What are the costs of implementing new technology

Answer 4

• Which revenue is easy to find, the cost calculation and attribution is becoming more difficult for these online only companies
• Also more internal controls are needed when dealing with people private data

Question 5

What are the changes to accounts following new technology introduction

Answer 5

• Simple tasks can out outsourced to other countries or to AI
  o Focus now on telling the story to not the completion of the process
• Accountants have to become more IT skill based

Question 6

What is information technology

Answer 6

The use of computers and telecommunications to retrieve, store and transit information

Question 7

What is data

Answer 7

Factual or statical items

Question 8

What is information

Answer 8

• Processed data to increase its usefulness
• Information contains descriptions

Question 9

What is knowledge

Answer 9

• Processed information that creates benefits or tells a story
• Answers questions, conveys instructions

Question 10

What is big data

Answer 10

• The mass of data society creates in this ever connected world
• Involves the collection and analysis or large amounts of data to find trends, understand consumer needs and help organisations focus resources more efficiently
• Can be both structured and unstructured from all different sources

Question 11

What are the 10 V’s of big data

Answer 11

1. Volume
2. Velocity
3. Value
4. Veracity
5. Variety
6. Vulnerability
7. Volatility
8. Visualisation
9. Validity
10. Variability
    Only need to focus on 1, 2, 4, 5

Question 12

What is volume of big data

Answer 12

Online lives produces terabytes of data and need to work out which is useful and adds value and what does not

Question 13

What is velocity of big data

Answer 13

• The data is generated quickly and need to be able to collect and process it in real time
• Being late is missing opportunities
  o E-promotions based on location
  o Healthcare data

Question 14

What is veracity of big data

Answer 14

• The level of confidence or trust in the big data
• How accurate is it
• Key questions:
  o Who created the data
  o What methodology what followed collecting it
  o What was the scope (all customers covered)
  o How has it been summarised
  o Has it been edited or modified

Question 15

What is variety of big data

Answer 15

• How complex is the data
• Structured or unstructured
• Is it in a table, free text, graph

Question 16

What is data at rest

Answer 16

• Data that is housed physically on computer storage
• Corporate files, backup data storage
• Links to volume

Question 17

What is data in motion

Answer 17

• Data en route between source and destination
• Can be streaming data that requires millisecond responses
• Links to velocity

Question 18

What is data in many forms

Answer 18

• This is the different structures data can take
  o If it is in graphs, free text, excel
• Links to variety

Question 19

What is data in doubt

Answer 19

• When there is uncertainty due to data inconsistencies, incompleteness, ambiguity, latency, deception or model assumptions
• Links to veracity

Question 20

What are the problems with big data

Answer 20

• Data needs to be secured
  o Both physically and online
• Respecting privacy
• Costs of managing all this and potential fines of getting it wrong
  o Need to do cost benefit analysis

Question 21

What are the characteristics of useful information in accounting

Answer 21

Reliable
* Free from error or bias, accurately represents organisation, events or activities
Complete
* Does not omit important aspects of events or activities it measures
Timely
* Provided in time for decision making to occur
Understandable
* Presented in a useful and intelligible form
Accessible
* Available to users when they need it in the form they can use it

Question 22

What are information systems

Answer 22

• An information system is a collection of computer hardware and software that can provides decision-making, control or other similar information based on underlying data, as well as capture and process organisational data
• Encompasses the technology in the organisation and the people who use it

Question 23

What is hardware

Answer 23

• When referring to information technology, the term hardware means the physical computing machinery and equipment used to capture, process and store data.
• E.g Keyboard, touchscreen, mouse, bar-code reader, microphone, pointing devices, scanners

Question 24

What is software

Answer 24

• Operating System Software performs a computer’s basic functions, such as:
• Application management, Input/Output management , Device management, Memory management, Processor management, Hardware management

Question 25

What are networks

Answer 25

• Communications hardware provides links between computers.
• A collection of computers and/or other hardware devices which are linked together.
• Key element of any computer network is a protocol – a set of rules governing communications across the network.
• The most common protocol for local networks is the Ethernet protocol, while TCP/IP (short for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the most common protocol used on larger networks like the internet.
• Local Area Network (LAN) – a network which is geographically close. A typical office network within one or several adjacent buildings is a typical example of a LAN.
• Wide Area Network (WAN) – a network over a larger geographical area

Question 26

What is data protection

Answer 26

• An organisation must obtain and process data fairly
• Data must be obtained for one or more specified and lawful purposes
• Data must be processed in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was obtained
• Data must be kept safe, secure, accurate and up-to date
• Any data obtained must be adequate, relevant and not excessive
• Data should not be retained for longer than necessary
• Should any individual request information on data held on them, this information must be give

Question 27

What is business continuity planning

Answer 27

• Business continuity planning (or disaster recovery planning) refers to policies and procedures to reinstate normal business in the event of business disruption
• Business continuity planning focuses on how the company can restore business operations after a disaster strikes.
• Level of BCP for information systems depends on the type of business
• Easy to think of the effects of a natural disaster, but what about having no information systems, or restricted information systems?
• First line of defence of a typically good IT management practice
  o Daily backups of key data (consider location of backup medium) – online backup solutions?
  o Redundant hardware
• A purchased BCP solution – typical and good practice for larger organisations, essential for online business
• Assess the solution cost versus cost of having no information system (e.g. lost revenue)

Question 28

What is financial accounting

Answer 28

Financial accounting provides information to external users, typically in the form of summarised financial reports such as the income statement and statement of financial position. The information is based on historical data; a highly regulated branch of accounting.

Question 29

What is management accounting

Answer 29

Management accounting is concerned with the provision of information to managers to help them make business decisions; management accounting aims to provide more detailed and timely information to internal users of accounting information

Question 30

What are the limitations of spreadsheets

Answer 30

• Might not be able to fulfil the requirements of the business of a certain size
• Physically limited in rows and columns
• Difficulties integrating data into the spreadsheet
• Limitations of user skills as it is a blank template