The Role of IT in Business_M3

Question 1

What are the 5 elements in IT Infrastructure?

Topic 2

Answer 1

1 Hardware (3 components)

• Computer Hardware
• External Hardware Devices
• Infrastructure Housing

2 Networking Devices (6 Components)

• Modem
• Routers
• Switches
• Gateway
• Servers
• Firewall (5 components)
  -Circuit Level Gateways
  -Application-Level Gateways
  -Stateful Multilayer Inspection Firewalls
  -Next-Generation Firewalls
  -Network Address Translation (NAT) Firewalls

3 Software
4 Networks (5 Components)

• Local Area Networks (LANs)
• Wide-Area Networks (WANs
• Software-Defined Wide-Area Networks (SD-WAN)
• Edge-enabled devices
• Virtual private networks (VPNs)

5 Mobile Technology

Question 2

What are Networking Devices?

2 of 5 elements of IT Infrasturcture

Answer 2

Networking devices provide connectivity and security by routing traffic, acting as an intermediary, and providing a safe means to transmit data.
* These devices can be stand-alone or have multi-functionality with a single piece of equipment or software providing several of these functions.
* Equipment/devices/program/or software.
* These devices can be deployed locally using LANs or they can span larger areas using WANs and internet connectivity.

Networking Devices (6 Components):

1. Modem
2. Routers
3. Switches
4. Gateway
5. Servers
6. Firewall (5 components)

• Circuit Level Gateways
• Application-Level Gateways
• Stateful Multilayer Inspection Firewalls
• Next-Generation Firewalls
• Network Address Translation (NAT) Firewalls

Question 3

What are Routers inside the 2nd element of IT Infrastucture-Network Devices

2 of 6 Compoments of the Networking Devices inside the IT Infrastucture

Answer 3

Routers:

• Are hardware pieces that manage network traffic by reading source and destination fields within information packets to determine the proper path for a data packet to flow.
• Routers also act as a link among modems, the internet, and switches to provide network connectivity.
• Assigning IP addresses to different devices.

Question 4

What are Switches inside the 2nd element of IT Infrastucture-Network Devices

3 of 6 Compoments of the Networking Devices inside the IT Infrastucture

Answer 4

Switches:

• Like routers, switches also connect a company’s network devices, but they do not have as much functionality.
• A switch can divide one connection into multiple coonections.

Question 5

What are Gateways inside the 2nd element of IT Infrastucture-Network Devices

4 of 6 Compoments of the Networking Devices inside the IT Infrastucture

Answer 5

Gateways:

• Convert protocols to communicate with other network devices
• Gateways are intermediary devices on a computer network that transform data into different protocols so that data can flow between networks.

Question 6

What are Servers inside the 2nd element of IT Infrastucture-Network Devices

5 of 6 Compoments of the Networking Devices inside the IT Infrastucture

Answer 6

Servers:

• Are machines or software that provide services or share data with other machines on a network, known as clients.
• A server is a machine that connects other computers, programs, or data within a network.
• It may have a firewall as a feature, but its core function is not designed to do that.

Question 7

What are Firewalls inside the 2nd element of IT Infrastucture-Network Devices

6 of 6 Compoments of the Networking Devices inside the IT Infrastucture

Answer 7

Firewalls:

• The protective device or program that protects an organization’s IT resources by filtering network traffic through security protocols.
• This prevents unauthorized access as well as prevents employees from downloading malicious content.

Question 8

What are the elements in Networks-IT Infrastructure?

4 of 5 elements of IT Infrasturcture

Answer 8

These devices can be deployed locally using LANs that provide a limited geographic scope, or they can span larger areas using WANs and internet connectivity to connect cities or countries.

• Local Area Network (LAN’s).
• Wide-Area Networks (Wan’s).
• Software-defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN).
• Edge-enable devices.
• Virtual private networks (VPN’s): A virtual private network (VPN) provides an encrypted communication tunnel across the internet that allows remote users secure access to a network.

Question 9

What are all the different Management Information Systems (MIS)?

Topic 3

Answer 9

Management information systems are designed to provide data to help managers and executive leaders of an organization in strategic planning and execute tactical operations.
* Provide predefined reports, insights, or trends that facilitate the decision-making.
* One of the primary functions of an MIS is to serve as an aggregating and reporting tool for a given managerial functions.
* The types of decisions that need to be made will dictate the overall design of the system.

1. Accounting Information Systems (AIS) Most Common

• Transaction Processing System (TPS)
• Financial Reporting zsystem / General Ledger System (FRS/GLS)
• Management Reporting System (MRS)

2. Decision Support Systems (DSS) Most Common
* What-if-Scenario
* Artificial Intelligence

3. Executive Information System (EIS)
4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
* Enhance existing customer satisfaction (Improve customer retention and increase customer spending)
* Attract customers
* Enhance targeted marketing
* Enable cross-selling
* Forecast sales

5. Inventory Management Systeme (IMS)
6. Knowledge Management System (KMS)
7. Supply Chain Management Systems (SCM) Most Common
* SCM Characteristics
* Objectives and Functions
* SCM Benefits

8. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
* ERP Benefis
* ERP Disadvantages

9. Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
10 E-Commerce (2 Components)
1 Types of E-Commerce (6 Components)

• 1. Business-to-Business (B2B)
• 2. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
• 3. Consumer-to-Business (C2B)
• 4. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
• 5. Goverment E-Commerce
• 6. E-Commerce Payment Methods

2 E-Commerce Payament Methods
* Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

Question 10

What are functions of the AIS?

1of 10 MIS Systems (1 of 3 Most Common)

Answer 10

• A good one creates an audit trail for accounting transactions.
• The ability to trace in both directions (from source documents to the financial statement and vice versa).
• Process, report, and track transactions.

Question 11

What are the Sub Systems of AIS?

AIS there are 3 sub-systems.

Answer 11

Transaction Processing System (TPS) converts economic events into financial transactions and distributes information to support daily operations and functions. Transactions, such as, shipping, payroll processing, and receiving internet orders are all transaction activities.

• It is a type of accounting information system (AIS) that processes and tracks data resulting from business transactions (monthly, historical in nature; not predictive). ex..shipping, payroll transactions, orders received, etc,

Financial Reporting System (FRS) or General Ledger System (GLS)
Management Reporting System (MRS)

Question 12

What is the function of the Decision Support System (DSS)?

2 of 10 MIS Systems ( 2 of 3 Most Common)

Answer 12

• Computer-based information systems that provide interactive support to managers or others during the decision-making process.
• They also are supported by artificial intelligence.
• Forecasting future performance or projecting different scenarios.
• Make what-if scenarios “legacy DSS”.
• Artificial Intelligence considered new DSS Expert System mimics ability to actually make the decision for you.

DSS System Examples:

• A financial modeling application assist management in evaluating financing alternatives.
• Database query applications read and reorganize data to management’s specifications but do not allow alterations of the data.
• Sensitivity Analysis uses a “what if” technique that asks how a given outcome will change if the original estimates of the model are changed.

Question 13

What are the functions of the Executive Information System (EIS)

3 of 10 MIS Systems

Answer 13

An EIS is a system utilized by senior management that provides access to internal as well as external information to help make in strategic planning to control and operate the company.
* Provide senior executives with immediate and easy access to internal and external information in a highly interactive format to assist in strategic decision making.
* Helps executives monitor business conditions in general.
* It helps to combine, integrate, and summarize and display the data in a format that is easy to understand and use.
* These systems consolidate data so it can be absorbed and interpreted at a macro level so that those using it can identify “big-picture” insights or trends.
* Those insights are then used to guide a company’s corporate strategy.
* EIS systems are usually tailored to the needs of top management and only used by a select few individuals.
* These macro-level insights are then used to form policy and lead an organization.

Question 14

What is the function of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

4 of 10 MIS Systems

Answer 14

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

• Provide sales force automation
• Customer services in an attempt to manage customer relationships.
• Focuses on interactions with a customer.

Question 15

What are the functions of the SCM?

7 of 10 MIS Systems (3 of 3 Most Common)

Answer 15

• Supply chain management is concerned with the four important characteristics of every sale: what, when, where the goods were delivered, and how much the goods cost.
• Provides unified solution for managing business processes beginning with the suppliers of raw materials all the way to delivery of finished goods to the consumer

Question 16

What are the functions of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)?

8 of 10 MIS Systems

Answer 16

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Benefits
* Coordinates information to ensure timely and responsive reporting.
* It is a cross-functional system that integrates and automates ALL business processes.
* Data is stored in a central repository.
* It only has to be entered once as opposed to multiple times in separate independent functional systems.
* Because of the integrated centralized system management function systems and security directives, can be centrally administered.
* An ERP administrator can grant, deny, and maintain user access using one platform.

DISADVANTAGES:

• Very expensive due to the hardware, software, and training required to implement and launch.
• Integrations with existing systems can be very complex because companies often have multiple systems with which they need to connect.
• The time it takes to implement an ERP system can be significant because of the upfront work required to integrate all of a company’s systems.

Question 17

What is the e-Commerce 5 business model breakdown?

8 of 10 MIS Systems

Answer 17

E-Commerce
Electronic commerce is a form of trade or exchange of goods and services that occurs on the internet.
* It also encourages competitive pricing and product comparison, creating a marketplace that might not exist without it.
* This type of commerce differs from traditional “brick and mortar” operations because it often has low overhead.
* “C” (consumer) generally referring to an individual retail consumer (end consumer) and the “B” (business) referring to a company such as a wholesaler, retailer, broker, or a raw materials harvester.

DISADVANTAGES:
shipping lag times, IT platform malfunction, personal information misuse, and a potential lack of human support.

C2B Model
A consumer-to-business model would mean a consumer is selling products or services to an organization​.

• The distinguishing factor in a C2B model is that the
  consumer/INDIVIDUAL provides the product, service, or overall value to the company.

C2C Model
one consumer is selling to another consumer, without the involvement of a business

B2B Model
Business-to-business e-commerce involves the sale of a product or service between companies and does not involve a direct sale to a consumer or vice versa. Common participants include raw materials manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and brokers.

B2C Model
business-to-consumer model in which a business sells a product to an individual. The B2C category describes most online retailer models in which a retailer sells goods to an end consumer, mirroring a grocery store or a clothing outlet but through e-commerce as a means of exchange.

Government e-Commerce
Electronic exchange of goods and services between goods and services between a government and citizen.

E-Commerce Payment Methods
Use of electronic funds transfer reduces the need for manual data entry, thus reducing the occurrence of data entry errors.

Question 18

What are the Functions of the least common MIS?

Answer 18

Inventory Management System (IMS)

• Managing inventory is more aligned with an inventory tracking system. * These systems track quantities of inventory throughout their life cycle, from raw materials to finished goods.
• An inventory management system will be integrated within an SCM solution.

Knowledge Management System (KMS)

• Any system that disseminates information throughout an organization.

Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)

Question 19

What are the 5 elements for IT Outsourcing and Cloud Computing?

Topic 4

Answer 19

1 Cloud Computing (3 Components)
* Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
* Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
* Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

2 IT Outsourcing Advantages (3 components)
* Lower Costs
* Expertise
* Resources
* Enhanced focus on core business

3 IT Outsourcing Disadvantages (3 components)
* Less control
* No Control over quality control
* No immediate access to IT Support

4 IT Outsource Risks ( 4 Components)
* Security and Privacy Practices
* Data Accessibility
* Data Disposal
* Vulnerability for attacks

5 System and Organization Controls (SOC) Reports (3 Components)
1 SOC 1 (2 components)
* Type 1 report: fair presentation
* Type 2 report: fair presentaion and design, operating effectiveness

2 SOC 2 (2 Components)
* Type 1 Report: mgmt description of service and suitability of design
* Type 2 Report: Type 1 plus operating effectiveness of controls

• 3 SOC 3
  attestation concerning controls on security, processing integrity, availability, and privacy.

Question 20

What are some of the cloud computing risk factors to consider?

1 of 5 IT Outsourcing and Cloud Computing

Answer 20

Cloud computing involves using virtual servers over the Internet rather than housing data on-site.

• Allows access to applications and services from remote locations through the internet on real time basis, using VPN’s, private, public, and hybrid networks.
• Offered from data centers all over the world, not just one host.
• SaaS providers typically sell a fixed product with limited ability for modification.
• Upfront and maintenance costs are usually much cheaper than a particular software solution installed in-house.
• Cloud computing is a cost-efficient method to use, maintain, and upgrade.

Question 21

What are the advantages of IT Outsourcing?

2 of 5 IT Outsourcing and Cloud Computing

Answer 21

The strategy of utilizing third-party providers for all or a subset of certain IT functions is common in organizations and comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

ADVANTAGES

• Lower IT costs.
• Access to a breadth of IT expertise.
• Resources without asset or personnel acquisitions.
• The ability to focus more on a company’s core mission.

Question 22

What are the disadvantages of IT Outsourcing?

3 of 5 IT Outsourcing and Cloud Computing

Answer 22

DISADVANTAGES

• Less control over the deployment of IT assets.
• Inability to control the quality of service.
• Potential delay in access to IT support.
• Quality control resulting from a loss in control that comes with not directly managing IT staff supporting the company.
• Third-party providers hold themselves to their own standards as opposed to a client’s.
• This can result in subpar or unpredictable service delivery, leaving the company to decide whether it makes more sense to continue outsourcing or to insource instead.

Question 23

What are the IT Risk factors?

4 of 5 IT Outsourcing and Cloud Computing

Answer 23

In assessing data security for a cloud service provider, thee are all critical aspects of data security evaluation:

The provider’s third-party suppliers.
The risk is that third-party suppliers will be able to access company data, so this is a critical risk factor to evaluate when choosing a cloud service provider.

The provider’s multi-tenant architecture.
Tenants are user groups and applications that share access to the cloud. Multiple tenants present more risk for data security, so this is a critical risk factor for evaluating a cloud service provider.

The provider’s cloud-of-cloud agreements.
A cloud-of-cloud agreement should contain information on data security measures in place to protect data.

Question 24

What is the risk for complying and not complying with end-user policy?

Answer 24

Risk of End-User Non-Compliance

• Missing user controls in the end-user policy of an organization exposes the organization to using potentially incorrect end-user developed files and to incorrectly attributing the same credibility to those files as the organization places on its system-generated data.
• End-user files operating independently of IT system controls are subject to undetected errors.
• End-user files associated with highly complex computations, such as actuarial calculations, are particularly vulnerable to data integrity issues because the validity of amounts is not always intuitively or obviously right or wrong.
• The quality of decision making may be compromised by bad data.

The Risk of Complying with end-user Policy

• Incurring additional costs because of it taking more time to comply.