Scavenger Hunt 3 Flashcards
How does a manager evaluate when selecting software?
First determine your needs
Then choose software (application software)
Then choose the rest of your platform
How are system software and application software different?
System: Collection of programs that are needed for the smooth functioning of a computer and its peripheral devices
(Windows 10, Norton Anti-Virus)
Application: Helps you accomplish a task
(Desktop, Enterprise Software, and Mobile Device Apps like Turbo Tax & Instagram)
What is the “layer cake” metaphor? Why is it valuable?
Operating sits at the bottom, commutated with the hardware, talks to the application
From top to bottom: Users, Application, OS (Operating System), Hardware
Operating Systems - Why do we need them? What do they do for us?
Communicates with the hardware/manages the hardware on behalf of the application which then takes request from the users as we use the software
Platform – what is a development platform?
A consistent set of tools that let programmers interact with the hardware so that they can create applications for us
(CRITICAL to the success of an OS)
Enterprise application software
Same program used by the entire organization, sharing enterprise data in a business process
SCM – Definition. What does it do? How does it help an organization?
Supply Chain Management
Analyzes data and uses systems to make sure that the right materials get to the right place at the right time to ensure that products are delivered to customers
CRM – Definition. What does it do? How does it help an organization? Why is privacy a concern?
Customer Relationship Management
Supports any type of customer related sales activity
Powerful tool for selling since it makes sales people much more effective by organizing data about their customers, tasks they need to complete, & promises to the customers they’ve made
CRM is a privacy concern because customer’s data is being used
ERP – Definition. What are components of an ERP system? How can it help an organization?
Enterprise Resource Planning
It takes all types of financial systems, integrating their data together so that you can make good business decisions
What’s the alternative to using standard modules provided? Why might an organization use the out of the box, standard processes? Why might an organization not use them?
OOTB Business Process: Custom business process specific to one company
Advantage: If your organization’s business processes are badly defined or implemented, you can buy an ERP software with a standard set of well-defined business processes that actually work well
Disadvantage: If your custom business processes are what makes your company unique and advantageous, you can be throwing away any advantages by purchasing an ERP system
Operating Systems - Device Drivers
Gateway to the hardware, application work of operation system
(Think printers)
Operating Systems - Control
Operating system controls who has access to the hardware
Graphic User Interface (GUI)
How we operate the system
Provide continuity to make the systems easier to use
Gain benefits of software more rapidly
Reduced operator error
Operating Systems - File System
Organize storage and collects data about them
Microsoft: FAT to NTFS
Apple: Mac OS — HFS+ Extended
IOS: None
Social CRM
Allows an organization’s sales force to collaborate together on business deals effectively and efficiently from anywhere on the Internet
What are the characteristics of distributed computing?
Shares the workload between client and server
Positive:
- Highly scalable — if you need more power, buy more servers then you have more processing power, all of the data is secure in the data center
- Data being managed by professionals
Negative:
- Complex and expensive
What are the roles of the client and the server?
Client:
Accepts input from the user and displays the results
No processing that happens, it’s just an input/output device
Server:
Stores the data, processes the data, analyzes the data
Sends the results back to the client, where users are able to see them
Define the term “API.” What is the role of an API in distributed computing?
Application Programming Interface
Set of rules by which one program can talk to another program requesting services
EULA – Definition. What is it?
End User License Agreement
A contract agreement between people who are using the software (customer); and the people who created the software (vendor)
What two key questions does a software license answer? What should you also remember?
- Who is allowed to use the software?
- How long may they use it?
What are “shrink wrap” and “click wrap” licenses? How do they work? Characteristics?
Shrink Wrap - “If you tear the shrink wrap,” you are agreeing to our legal contract (EULA). When you open it, you agree to the contract terms
Click Wrap - More for downloading software. “You have to click agree in order to use their software.” Most of these license agreements are a “take-it or leave-it” type scenario. They don’t modify it for individuals.
Multi-user licenses – what are their characteristics? How are “per user” licenses tracked?
Multi-User Licenses:
Per User and Concurrent (How many people are using the software at the exact same time) there is negotiating back and forth that could happen with multi-user licenses.
Per User Licenses:
A contract covering multiple customers and could cover them in different ways. Usually done in how many people will be using the software and only the people they purchased for will be allowed to use it. (Ex: purchasing 20 contacts for 20 employees that need to use the software)
Sometimes organizations must write their own custom application software. What is the business manager’s role in making this process successful?
- Business processes that’s well-defined, mature
- Clear statement of goal.
- Requirements clearly stated.
- Version control - avoid “feature creep”.
- Have effective project management techniques
What are the elements of software TCO?
Acquisition Cost - either money you pay for software licenses, or the cost of people’s salaries to develop the software
There are beyond the price tag things like: deployment, planning, customization, integration, testing, migration, installation,training, user support, maintenance, upgrades, administration, lost productivity
What is TCO?
Total Cost of Ownership
Not just the initial purchase, but the additional purchase to maintain and properly use the technology
Be able to explain the “free puppies” metaphor.
“Free beer” is actually free, while “free puppies” have high TCO (i.e. vet trips, food, toys, etc.)
______% of total IT cost occurs after initial purchase.
80%
_______% of IT projects fail
68%
What top two causal factors were described?
Poor business analysis
Poor requirements specification
What “fixes” can help maximize the chances of project success?
Need realistic goals — State them clearly.
Requirements specifications — Don’t make assumptions, be explicit, document everything.
IT and business team need to be on the same page, business drivers must match goals.
Project needs a champion (leadership).
Avoid “feature creep,” communicate regularly.
Evaluate and address risk.
Pay attention to testing, need real project management skills.
Be able to explain the three aspects of IT project failure.
- Time: Not ready on time
- Cost: Project goes over budget.
- Result: If the project doesn’t deliver desired results
By “flux” we mean change – disruptive change that is impacting the software industry. What are some key
potential “treasure” outcomes of these three disruptions to the software industry?
Open Source
Cloud
Virtualization
Flux - Open Source
Brings new competition and innovation to the software industry, reduce cost, and entry
Done by a shared group of people who collaborate together on the internet and share their work
Flux - Cloud
Brings incredibly scalability on demand - only pay for what you need, reduced cost
The idea that you don’t have to have your own expensive data storage system when you can use someone else’s out there on the Internet
Flux - Virtualization
Brings flexibility - run Windows on a Mac, etc.
Term used when one computer can run multiple workloads at the same time, actively doing the work of many computers
Flexibility for consumers, environment impact
Is OSS truly free?
No license fee (doesn’t mean free)
Free redistribution, derived work, source code, technology-neutral
OSS - Access to source code - what are the benefits of having the code?
Fix bugs yourself
Modify behavior
Add features
OSS - Community - what does the community do? Who are they?
Not just code — Collaborative development, Support resource,
Contribute
Anyone can view and modify
What support options exist for OSS software?
Powerful software
- Linux OS
- Apps - Enterprise and Desktop
Community
- Agile Development
- Support
Potential savings
LAMP stack – What is it? What are its components? How is it used?
A powerful open source platform (OS, web server, database, and programming language) that has been used to build some of the most powerful, popular web applications in use today
Linux, apache, MySQL, Php
No license fee
What is meant by “the cloud”?
The idea that you don’t have to have your own expensive data storage system when you can use someone else’s out there on the Internet
SaaS
Software as a service — Salesforce, Google Apps, Office 365
Don’t buy hardware, don’t install software, don’t have to patch/upgrade rapid deployment, scalability, operating expenses (Monthly bill based on # of users)
EX: Bob’s Biscuits wants to use a cloud-based CRM application to track their customers. BB is a small company and doesn’t have any programmers; they can’t build their own solution.
PaaS
Platform as a service
Amazon Web service, Windows Azure
Don’t buy hardware, don’t build expensive datacenter, install your own software 7x24 support for platform scalable (probably), operating expense, 24/7 support
Needing a database to create you own stuff.
EX: Mike’s Music wants to build a custom solution to manage their stores. They don’t have a datacenter, so they want to put their custom solution in the cloud.
DaaS
Desktops as a service
Citrix, Amazon Web Service, Dell
You pay per desktop, per month. Gold Image - your techs design exactly what the perfect company computer should look like. Rapid scale up/down.
EX: Tara’s Tax service plans to hire 100 temporary employees soon. Rather than buying each one a PC, the company wants to host virtual PCs in the cloud for these temporary hires
Federated Authentication – What is it? Why is it important to enterprise customers?
- Log in credential to log into ALL of the cloud services
- Single Sign-On (SSO)
- Minimizes user support
- Integration can be tricky
What is SSO?
Single Sign On — Gator Link
Name the three federated authentication technologies discussed in lecture
Shibboleth, Saml, Oauth
Be able to explain the risks of cloud computing
Authentication — Standards-based federated authentication
Vendor Stability — You want to find a vendor that provides
Security Risks — Regulatory compliance; vulnerability assessments and forensics
Consumerization
Explain measures that cloud customers can take to minimize risk, including…
Audits - including AICPA SOC 2
AICPA: Availability, confidentiality, privacy, processing integrity, security
Customer audit
To ensure that third-party service providers protect client data
Explain measures that cloud customers can take to minimize risk, including…
Data location
Must be in EU, U.S., etc.
Explain measures that cloud customers can take to minimize risk, including…
What is meant by “look behind the curtain” when discussing cloud solutions?
When you buy services, know where they get their services
If you have American locations, you need to make sure your services is also American; no outsourcing
Explain measures that cloud customers can take to minimize risk, including…
Exit strategy
Contract
Data (retrieve your data, format, ensure vendor destroys all copies)
What is virtualization?
A way to take advantage of physical hardware resources that are underutilized (more value for our money)
How does virtualization solve the problem of underutilized hardware?
Technique for running multiple “virtual computers” on a single physical host computer system
Breaks it up to give the person only what they need, i.e., 1 GB or 16 GB, instead of wasted space just sitting there
What is workstation virtualization? How can it be used in business?
Multiple OS on a single physical host machine
Virtual Machine (VM) portability — you can copy and move to another desktop
Security (Test, Snapshot) — test software in VM without risking host integrity
Snapshot — restores VM to previous status. Great for testing
What is server virtualization? How does it reduce a company’s IT costs?
The masking of server resources, including the number and identity of individual physical servers, processors, and operating systems, from server users
Consolidation:
- Underutilized, reduce hardware cost, pooled resources
- Most servers grossly underutilized
- 20+ VM per PM is common
– VM - Virtual Machine
–PM - Physical Machine
Server Rooms / Datacenters:
- No space, cooling, or power available, reduce server room costs
- BIG SAVINGS - Reduce cost, space, energy, furnishing (racks, KVM, cabling)
What is Pre Virtualization?
Pre Virtualization — Physical hardware resources (CPU, Memory, Storage, NIC)
Running multiple virtual computers on a single physical host computer system
