Austin’s Energy’s Billing System Can’t Light Up

Is the Austin Energy project a failure? Explain your answer.

Yes, the Austin Business Project is failure because:

Modernization billing project delays - Austin and IBM project late completion, delay schedule, software bugs. Complexity new billing system with 73 different interface

Software bugs - Error of thousands of bills, 65000 never received bills35000 in accurate bills, overcharging

Instability issues - Seriously impact business and customer, Persistent system error from billing department and Revenue loses

Customer services employee - Employee response one to one assistant for account accessing and correcting error.

Customer - Unable to access system online portal and System causes a lot of problem, not friendly and hard time for customer.

IBM failure - Billing software system failure

Describe the business impact of the faltering Austin Energy project.

Operation are mostly affected is billing department.Difficulties of issuing bills because of billing software failure, Common error of customer not received bills, customer receive in accurate bills, account automatically cancelled, Incurred more cots in utilities and operation. Since business function is interconnected, one function failure give impact of another function such as production, Business service is inaccurate, it give impact in revenue and profit even though they don’t have pressure of competitor.

Customer servicedepartment mostly affected.Employee work in high level of stress, Extra effort need to solve customer problem. They still need to serve customer better even though customer angry to show their disappointment towards the company, Employee also treated in the same way as usual, do not receive any appreciation from the company and Give impact of public relationship disaster.

Sales and marketing such as company also faced difficulties in determining the actual sales since the system leads more error, Sales and profit decreasing, Company might face law suit for this issues. If it is happening, more cost to handle legal costs. It is bad for company since give negative impact in their legacy and Company also incurred more cost in advertising to give explanation to the public about what happen.

Finance and accounting such as Inaccurate financial report since the actual value of revenue and profit inaccurate recorded, give impact of financial planning and investment and the project is delayed, suppose fully operational in early 2011 but it still not fully operational and incurred more cost.

Management will do a wrong decision making of having IBM to develop the software as the bad experience IBM performance in inventory management, the service given by IBM is bad and disappointment and need to train all employees with new technology.

Customer will mostly affected. Whereby System also not user friendly, Austin portal also always have problem, customer can’t access account information and company also doesn't think of their preference such as ability to choose time of the month that customer prefers to pay bills.

To what degree was IBM responsible for the problems countered by the Austin Energy billing project? Was Austin Energy at fault for the problems? Explain your answer.

IBM not really responsive to the problems and it made Austin Energy appealed so many times to IBM officials ranging from the managers of billing system project up to IBM CEO. IBM responsible in find the roof of problem, make system correction, test the latest system version and implement the system.

Yes, Austin Energy is at fault for the problem. It is because Austin Energy as a user had to be committed to the system. Probably, Austin Energy did not plan very properly in the project to develop the billing system. They must have clear and proper project management objective which should deal with five major variables: scope, time, cost, quality and risk. The agreement should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of both party.

What were the specific organizational or technical factors as well as management factors involved in this projects failure?

Organizational:Employee could not be committed enough and described as if they are alpha tester when they encountered bugs and issues that never have made it to a live version, unable to meet customer satisfaction, no realignment internally and externally, caused vastly on costs that exceed budgets, fail to meet customer expectation and lost trust draws customer away.

Technical:No specific infrastructure, unreliable system caused money loss, did not work closely with third party vendors like oracle, customers unable to access the system’s online portal.

Management:No strategy which cause time slippage, no business solutions, interrelated with manpower, repeating mistakes and delays and improper project management objective.

Describe the steps Austin Energy and IBM should have taken be better manage this project.

Austin Energy and IBM need to develop an information system plan which indicates:

Austin Energy and IBM need to develop an information system plan which indicates  such as the direction of system development, the rational, the current system/situation, new development to consider, the management strategy, the implementation plan and Budget requirement

What does IT take to go Mobile

What management, organization and technology issues need to be addressed when building mobile application.

The introduction of a new information system involves much more than new hardware and software. A mobile strategy involves much than selecting mobile devices, operating system and applications. It also includes changes in business process, changing the way people work, skills, and the way a firm interacts with its customers. System builders must understand how a system will affect specific business processes and the organization as a whole.

I.                    Management Issues: Before firms go to mobile, Company should identify several issues toward management such as: System Solution Selection, Project Monitoring and Rationalization of the applications. Management also need defined clearly the benefit to company and customer against the developing any mobile application.

II.                  Organizational Issue: Before firms go to mobile, Company should identify several issues toward organizational such as: Global Processes Redesigning, Jobs redesigning, Employee Training and Change of corporate culture.

III.                Technology Issues: Before firms go to mobile, Company should identify several issues toward Technology such as: Deploy E-Business Software, Rich and rewards of far reaching changes of mobile features and applications, Automation from Technology – enable change and System Development Process.

How does user requirement definition for mobile applications differ from that in traditional systems analysis?

Requirement analysis also called requirements engineering which is the process of determining user expectations for a new or modified product.  These features, called requirements must be quantifiable, relevant and detailed. In software engineering such requirements are often called functional specifications. Requirements analysis is an important aspect of project management. Requirement analysis involves frequent communications with system users to determine specific features expectations, resolution of conflict or ambiguity in requirements as demanded by the various users or groups of users, avoidance of feature creep and documentation of all aspects of the project from start to finish.

Traditional requirements are usually thought of as capabilities and constraints of the system. Many traditional requirements do provide context for business and users but usually not the main focus of the requirement rather than focus of system. Requirements be the sources of record for the system’s operation.

Describe the business processes changed by USAA’s mobile applications before and after the application were deployed.

USAA launched its Web in 1997 and went mobile 10 years later, with about 90% of its interactions with customers taking place on these two self-service channels. In 2001, USAA handle 183 million customer contacts through mobile channel alone, and expect the mobile channel will its primary point of contact with customers in next two years. In 2011 also, USAA Federal Savings bank processed $6.4 billion in deposits through this mobile applications. The mobile applications also displays loan 7 credit card balance, shopping services, homeowners & auto insurance policy information, Home Information, ATM & Taxi locators and a communities features that lets users see what others are posting about USAA on Twitter, Facebook and You Tube. USAA has 100 dedicated mobile developer writing apps for device using iPhone, iPad and Android systems, along with apps Blackberry and Windows Phone 7. USAA develop a smartphone accident report & claims applications that enables customers to snap a photo & submit a claim directly from the site of an accident.

Knowledge Management and Collaboration at Tata Consulting Services

Analyze the knowledge management efforts at TCS using the knowledge value chain model. Which tools or activities were used for managing tacit knowledge and which ones are used for explicit knowledge?

The knowledge management efforts at TCS can be divided as below:

a)      Acknowledge Acquisition

-          Over the years, TCS had acquired a vast body of knowledge and experience in several fields through on-shore and off-shore projects for its client across the globe including GE Insurance, GE Health, Hewlett Packard, Prudential, Standard Chartered Bank and so on.

-          TCS regularly rotated people across various functions and within other Tata Group companies to gain cross-industry experience.

-          Employees were also encouraged to be part of outside bodies like IEEE and go in for certificates.

b)      Knowledge Storage

-          TCS had developed various repositories and databases for knowledge storage such as Kbases, Process Asset Libraries, KnowMax and Ultimatix.

c)       Knowledge Dissemination

-          Knowledge was disseminated using a variety of techniques such as:

·         Ultimatix : A web based electronic knowledge management portal

·         Propel session : Brought together employees with similar interests

·         Live Meeting and Knowledge Transition sessions at the project level

·         “Tip of the Day” email comprising technical, conceptual or human skills tips were share within the organization daily

d)      Knowledge Application

-          Employees could access the knowledge repository that raised on the corporate and branch servers through the intranet.

-          Students or anybody should visit the TCS website to explore the new capabilities developed by TCS and how it relates to the knowledge they have accumulated over the years about the customers, markets, systems development and technologies.

Tools or activities were used for managing tacit knowledge:

-          Kbases

-          Process Asset Libraries

-          KnowMax

-          Ultimax

Tools or activities were used for managing explicit knowledge:

-          Redesign of development centers

-          Propel sessions

-          Knowledge Transition Sessions

-          Communities of practice

Describe the growth of knowledge management systems at TCS. How have these systems helped TCS in its business?

The concept of knowledge management (KM) was introduced in TCS in 1995 and a dedicated KM team called ‘Corporate Groupware’ was formed in 1998. This group launched the KM-pilot in mid-1999. At that time, KM in TCS covered nearly every function, from quality assurance to HR management. The employees could access the knowledge repository that resided on the corporate and branch servers through the intranet, with a browser front-end or a Notes client. The knowledge repository also called Kbases, contained a wide range of information about processes line of business of technology and projects.

The next step was to create Process Asset Libraries (PALs) which contained information related to technology, processes, and case studies for project leaders which were made available to all development centers through the intranet.

The same was done through the web-based electronic knowledge management portal called Ultimax, which PAL was the precursor. The PAL library and Kbases, which were hosted on the intranet, merged with Ultimax, which had sub-portals for quality management system, software productivity improvement, training materials and tools information.

TCS developed Knowmax, a knowledge management system using Microsoft share point portal server that gave TCS consultants access to nearly 40 years of experience and best practices arranged by type of engagement, the technology in use and customer requirements. It supported more than 60 knowledge assets and was accessible via Ultimax to all TCS associates. Any associate could contribute to the K-Bank and Knowledge officers were made responsible for maintaining the quality of content.

Describe the collaboration tools used at TCS? What benefits did TCS reap from these tools?

Collaboration tools used by TCS:

-          Infinity that includes instant messaging, IP telephony and video conferencing

-          Blogs and wikis

-          IdeaStorm, TIP

-          Mysite

Benefits that TCS reap from these tools:

i)                    Collaboration overseas and local offices improved as instant messaging got rid of cultural and pronunciation differences that could occur on the phone.

ii)                   Corporate communications are able to run a 24-hour internal news broadcast to all TCS offices in the world.

iii)                 Travel and telecommunications costs were reduced by 40% and 6% respectively.

iv)                 The other tools improved collaboration, communication and knowledge sharing among the employees.

How did Web 2.0 tools help TCS to manage knowledge and collaboration among its employees?

Web 2.0 tools help TCS to manage knowledge and collaboration among its employees as below:

a)      Wikis

-          Collaborating on materials related to project.

-          Supporting brainstorming sessions

-          Developing presentations

b)      Blogs

-          Used as to gather inputs on problems that they faced on a project.

c)       Just Ask System

-          Allowed employees to post a question and get answers from colleagues, sometimes leading to a detailed discussion.

-          If someone often answered questions on a particular domain, the relevant specialist group invites that person into the domain group and gave the visibility to talent within the company.

d)      The Ideastorm

-          Used by management, helped in generation of ideas on topics posted by corporate team.

e)      TIP

-          Used as a portal for product innovation and new ideas.

-          Helped the management to garner ideas related to product or service innovation and helped in solving problems.

f)       Social Net Working Mysite

-          To help employees communicate better with each other.

How do you think KM tools have changed some key operational processes at TCS, such as bidding for new projects, project development and implementation, customer service and so on?

System development and implementation activities are more likely to be done by TCS in manner that is timely, effective and cost efficient. The same for customer service, by knowing customer requirements and also taking ideas from other industries that are stored in the KM databases, the company can provide new and innovative solutions to resolve customer queries. TCS aims to move up the value chain and to continue to bid for higher level projects, beyond those of maintenance and development. By accumulating knowledge, it has built capabilities to understand how to service clients through consulting and in other strategic areas. So KM has enabled TCS to continue to move higher-up and to bid for more strategic projects. KM repositories that capture best practices in the projects it has undertaken make the company more efficient in servicing clients. This means it can execute better. Overall, KM tools have become a key strategic resource at the company and all hires are required to learn them as a part of their orientation. These tools are also the first go-to before starting and project or approaching a client. Knowledge in these databases allows TCS consultants to quickly gather intelligent about the client or similar projects and thus align themselves better with what the client might want. This has led to higher success rate in bidding and in project execution.

Designing Drug Virtually

Why are computers so important in drug discovery?

i)                    Previously traditional methods of drug discovery rely on trial and error testing of chemical substances on cultured cells or animals and matching the apparent effects to treatments.

ii)                   The traditional drug discovery process are painstaking and complicated. It’s take a lot of time and a lot of process and too much trial and error.

iii)                 Drug development companies tried to speed up the process by creating huge libraries of potential compounds and sing robots to quickly review hundreds of thousands of sample to see if any worked.

iv)                 The researchers had no idea and not understand the ‘key’ of the ‘lock’.

v)                  Scientists were used the powerful computers to analyze thousands of interference patterns.

vi)                 Researchers must find a custom molecule to fit that particular ‘lock’.

vii)               The molecule must be able to bind to target, be synthesized and manufactured in large quantities and be metabolized by body at just the right rate.

Subsequently, researchers must find a custom molecule to fit that particular ‘lock’. This is because the molecule must be able to:

-          Bind the target

-          Be synthesized and manufacture in large quantities

-          Be metabolized by the body at just the right rate

These are the reasons computers are so important in the drug discovery process. Eventually, the high-powered computers help evaluate the structures and properties of molecules that are most likely to bind to that target and rapidly search database libraries of chemical structures in order to identify the most promising candidates.

What roles are played by computers in the drug discovery process?

Roles played by computers in the drug discovery process as below:

a)      In the field of medicine, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered.

b)      The objective of drug design is to find chemical compound that can fit to a specific cavity on a protein target both geometrically and chemically.

c)       It is generally recognized that drug discovery and development are very time and resources consuming processes.

d)      There is ever growing effort to apply computational power to combined chemical and biological space in order to streamline drug discovery, design. Development and optimization.

e)      In biomedical arena, computer-aided is being utilized to expedite and facilitate hit identification, hit-to-lead selection, optimize the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity profile and avoid safety issues.

f)       The result is determination of specific receptors (targets).

g)      In the modern era, computer-aided drug design (CADD) has considerably extended its range of applications, spanning almost all stages in the drug discovery pipeline from target identification to lead discovery, from lead optimization to preclinical or clinical trials.

h)      Drug researchers using structure-based design benefit from a new process of visualizing and modeling promising compounds at the molecular level. 

Albassami’s job is not feasible without IT

What systems are described here? What valuable information do they provide?

The systems are described in this case study are:

·         Database Management System

The system is based on clustered Dell servers running Windows 2003 and connected to over 270 Windows XP clients. This system used as the backbone of Sybase Adaptive server, whereas clients use SQL anywhere. Every branch has the most recent version of the client list, trucks’ availability, and new shipping contracts so that any customer is able to deal with any branch at any time.

·         Shipping Information System

The system is to maintain all the sender information such as the sent car, the truck number, the sender and receiving branches, and it also sends an SMS message to the client acknowledging the arrival of the car. The system also records the client’s data, and holds maintenance information. Linking the data of vehicle maintenance centres with the transportation service helps to enhance company performance and achieve better customer service. The system also enable standard reports to be provided to top management and head sectors about the productivity of each branch, resulting in accurate identification of needs for different regions and thus proper budget allocation. In addition, the system allowed a better audit on all drivers’ behaviour by using the output of the vehicles’ tracking information.

What value did the IT/IS investments add to Albassami?

By investing in IT/IS, the values added are:

·         Enhance company performance.

·         Achieve better customer services.

·         Helps top management make faster decision and reduce error in decision making by using accurate data provided by the system.

·         Proper performance and monitoring resulted in adequate employees’ appraisals and consequently loyal staff.

·         Knowledge extracted from central database has enabled the management team to make sound investment and operational decision and therefore help the business maintain its success leadership in Kingdom.

How did implementing the Shipping Information System address the business needs and information requirements of Albassami?

Implementing the shipping information system address the business needs and information requirements of Albassami is the recipient branch will create a receipt entry on the system upon arrival of the truck and then and Short Messaging Service communication (SMS) is created and sent to the customer, who will then go to the destination branch to receive the car.

In addition, Albassami maintains all the sender information such as the sent car, the truck number, the sender and receiving branches, and it also sends an SMS to the client acknowledging the arrival of the car. The system also records the client’s data, and holds maintenance information. Linking the data of vehicle maintenance centres with the transportation service helps to enhance company performance and achieve better customer service.

The system also enables standard reports to be provided to top management and head sectors about the productivity of each branch, resulting in accurate identification of needs for different regions and thus proper budget allocation. In addition, the system allowed a better audit on all drivers’ behaviour by using the output of the vehicles tracking information. Proper performance monitoring resulted in adequate employee’s appraisals and consequently loyal staff.

The battle over net neutrality

What is network neutrality? Why has the Internet operated under net neutrality up to this point of time?

Net neutrality (also called network neutrality, Internet neutrality or net equality) is the principle that Internet service providers and government should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment or mode of communication. In other definition, network neutrality is the idea that Internet service providers must allow customers equal access to content and applications regardless of the source or nature of content. Presently, the Internet is indeed neutral, all internet traffic is treated equally on a first-come first-serve basis by Internet backbone owners. The Internet is neutral because it was built on phone lines, which a subject to ‘common carriage’ laws. These laws require phone companies to treat all calls and customers equally. They cannot offer extra benefits to customers who willing to pay higher premiums for faster or clearer calls, a model known as tiered service.

Who’s in favor of net neutrality? Who’s opposed? Why?

Those who favor of network neutrality include organizations like MoveOn.org, Christian Coalition, American Library Association, every major consumer group, many bloggers and small businesses and some large Internet companies like Google and Amazon. Some members of the U.S Congress also support network neutrality. Vint Cerf, a co-inventor of the Internet Protocol also favors network neutrality saying that variable access to content would detract from the Internet’s continued ability to thrive. This group argues that the risk of censorship increases when network operators can selectively block or slow access to certain content. Others are concerned about the effect of slower transmission rates on their business models if users cannot download or access content in a speedy fashion. Those who oppose network neutrality include telecommunications and cable companies who want to be able to charge differentiated prices based on the amount of bandwidth consumed by content being delivered over the Internet. Some companies report that 5% of their customers use about half the capacity on local lines without paying any more than low-usage customers. They state that metered pricing is “the fairest way” to finance necessary investments in its network infrastructure. Internet service providers point to the upsurge in piracy of copyrighted materials over the Internet as a reason to oppose network neutrality. Comcast reported that illegal file sharing of copyrighted material was consuming 50% of its network capacity. The company posits that if network transmission rates were slower for this type of content, users would be less likely to download or access it. Bob Kahn, another co-inventor of the Internet Protocol opposes network neutrality saying that it removes the incentive for network providers to innovate, provide new capabilities and upgrade to new technology.

What would be the impact on individual users, businesses and government if Internet providers switched to a tiered service model?

Proponents of net neutrality argue that a neutral Internet encourages everyone to innovate without permission from the phone and cable companies or other authorities. A more level playing field spawns countless new businesses. Allowing unrestricted information flow becomes essential to free markets and democracy as commerce and society increasingly move online. Heavy users of network bandwidth would pay higher prices without necessarily experiencing better service. Even those who use less bandwidth could run into the same situation. Network owners believe regulation like the bills proposed by net neutrality advocates will impede U.S competitiveness by stifling innovation and hurt customers who will benefit from ‘discriminatory’ network practices. U.S Internet service already lags behind other nations in overall speed. Obviously, by increasing the cost of heavy users of network bandwidth, telecommunication and cable companies and Internet service providers stand to increase their profit margins.

Are you favor legislation enforcing network neutrality? Why and why not?  

We are not favor of legislation enforcing network neutrality because that will prevent globalization process, especially in business environment. Moreover, since this is a system which there are no government or ISP mandated restrictions with regard to the content, sites, platforms, equipment or modes of communication that user access. Internet users should be able to control the content that they access and have a choice in which applications they use to view that content. As we know, the globalization is very strong supported by Internet and if the Internet is not neutral, it will disturb the process of globalization. The legislation will prevent the small businesses to promote their product abroad by cloud computing and also prevent the blogger to share ideas and knowledge. It is also as a disadvantage for service provider to provide a free service and platform to users.

But, whatever service provider decided to charge additional fees for heavy bandwidth users, there are certain elements and criteria need to be concern, such as:

a)    Price differential – how much more heavy bandwidth users pay than those who consume less bandwidth?

b)    Speed – how much faster would network transmissions be with a tiered service model?

c)    Stifle innovation – would a tired service model stifle innovation by charging more for heavy bandwidth use or would it free up bandwidth thus allowing more innovation?

d)    Censorship – would telecommunication and cable companies and Internet service providers increase censorship of content transmitted over networks?

e)    Discrimination by carriers – would the end of network neutrality be the beginning of more discrimination?

Schiphol International Hub

How many levels of complexity can you identify in Schiphol’s baggage conveyor network?

There are four levels of complexity:

a.       Physical complexity – The conveyor network is large and intricate. It must therefore envision specific logic to track, maintain, store and retrieve location of items, people and actions.

b.      Business complexity – There are many companies fixed to operate with the network in its own peculiar way. The conveyor network must be able to cope with the presence of different baggage governance policies. Also, the conveyor network is an effort of three large industrial corporations. Each of these companies has its own agenda in terms of revenue form the conveyor network.

c.       Social complexity – The system must be ready to support and aid the work of humans (e.g human baggage handlers) and also human-to-human relations (e.g security officer with conveyor technician)

d.      System complexity – Is the system is rigged to enact a co-operation between many technological layers both at software and hardware levels (e.g conveyor belts, scanners, security checkers)

What are the management, organization and technology components of Schiphol’s baggage conveyors network?

Management components:

         i.            Setting the goal – Right bag must be at the right place on right time

       ii.            Allocating human resources – In every level of conveyor there must be available human resources to control, manage and handle the bags.

      iii.            Allocating financial resources like they have invested over 1 billion in last 10 years

     iv.            New product development such they are going to inroduce new baggage handling and controlling system to handle huge bags in every year.

       v.            Try to inroduce new service offering and technology to give better services

Organizational components:

Like every organization in Schiphol’s baggage conveyors network is made up of different department. Each department contributes to the running of the business. The most common departments are:

-          Marketing and Sales

-          Finance

-          Human resources

-          Information technology departments

-          Production departments

Technological components:

It consists of Destination Coded Vehicles (DCVs), Automatic Bar Code Scanner, Radio Frequency Identification Tags and High Tech Conveyor Sorting Machine.

What is the problem that Schiphol is trying to solve? Discuss the business impact of this problem.

The problem they are trying to solve is the mishandling of baggage in Schiphol’s baggage conveyors network. Schiphol is trying to increase the revenue stream by optimizing customer experience while redusing costs-per-baggage. Achieving this goal has a deep impact on Schiphol’s revenue stream for two reasons:

·         Schiphol is an international hub – flight transfers are more likely to take place at Schiphol if its efficiency and customer experience increase

·         Schiphol serves a large user basin – increasing direct  customer experience increases traffic of people

Increase efficiency in baggage handling in the Schiphol International airport, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Mishandled baggage is a $2.5 billion problem for industry every year and this problem may manually affect about 51 million passengers travelling through Schiphol airport alone. With the new system, the manager of Schiphol estimated this system operate 99.9% of times while being able to minimize loss and damage in that 0.01%. This system is extremely expensive but if implemented successfully it can save 0.1% of $2.5 billion.

Think of the data that the network uses. What kinds of management reports can be generated from the data?

Data items of circulating across Schiphol Conveyor Network comprise of four items are scheduling data, hit or failure reports, delays and usage information. All of this data was designed to allow plotting of cost-per-baggage reduction progressions. Schiphol constantly uses the reports to steer the completion of the project described.

DATA NETWORK	REPORTS
Number of baggage	Total number of business handling every year
Total loss	Profit and loss report
Defect system-minimum loss and damage	Risk management report and improvement system
Capacity of the baggage	Actual capacity for the baggage
Automatic data scanner	Efficiency of the data scanner

The above mentioned reports can be done through Enterprise systems. Enterprise systems is the need to coordinate activities, decisions and knowledge across the firm’s different levels, functions and business units. Enterprise systems use a single central data repository in order to supply all users with a consolidated view of employees, customers, suppliers and vendors. The key to effectively using enterprise systems is to eliminate redundancy and duplication, not just in the information systems but also in business processes.

Piloting Procter & Gamble From Decision Cockpits

What management, organization and technology issues had to be addressed when implementing Business Sufficiency, Business Sphere and Decision Cockpits?

        I.            Management issues

-          The management dimension of information system involves leaderships, strategy and management behavior.

-          The issues had to be addressed are:

a)      Human Resources Management

·         Training – how to train the existing employees to adopt and use the new tools

·         Hired skillful employees

·         Maintain skillful employees

·         Compensations

b)      Strategy

·         To ensure the data did not leaked and obtained by competitors.

·         To ensure the obtained data have been fully utilized by managers and executive to make a decision.

c)       Management behavior

·         Management integrity

      II.            Organization issues

-          The organization dimension of information systems involves the organization’s hierarchy functional specialties, business processes, culture and political interest groups.

-          Since P&G pursue new IT innovation to maintain the competitive advantage, the management issues that need to be addressed involves such as:

·         Functional specialties – P&G need to structure back the functional specialties especially in IT department.

·          Business processes – business process will be change and spouse to be in line with the new approach

·         Culture – new culture will be created and how fast the employees can adopt the change.

    III.            Technology issues

-          The organization dimension of information systems consist of computer hardware, software, data management technology and networking telecommunications technology (including internet).

-          By implementing Business Sufficiency, Business Sphere and Decision Cockpits, P&G change the way it’s gathered, reports and interprets data. Hence, the technology issues need to be addressed consists of:

·         Computer hardware – suit the program

·         Software -  to upgrade accordingly

·         Data management technology – to store the huge data

·         Networking & telecommunications technology – support the solutions

How did these decision-making tools change the way the company ran its business? How effective are they? Why?

a)      Business Sufficiency

This program furnished executives with predictions about P&G market share and other key performance metrics six months to one year into the future. Based on a series of analytic models showing what’s occurring in the business right now, for example shipment, sales and market share. The effectiveness of the tool is based on the analytic models. The “why” models highlighted sales data at the country, territory, product line and store levels along with drivers such as advertising and consumer consumption, factoring in specific economic data at the regional and country levels. The “actions” show ways that P&G can adjust pricing, advertising and product mix to respond to the predictions. So, this program helps the CEO and executives to examine the top categories of products and country markets that are responsible for 60% of sales. This tool provides data visualizations that show changes in sales and market share. Moreover, this program furnish more detailed data as required by executives.

b)      Business Sphere

Interactive system designed to reveal insights, trends and opportunities for P&G leaders and prompt them to ask focused business questions that can be addressed with data on the spot. Thousands of algorithms and  analytical models aggregate data, organizing it by country, territory, product line, store level and other categories and monitor trends like response to advertising and consumer consumption within individual regions and countries. This tool allows top executives to answer their own specific business questions and to visualize data in a more intuitive way. It was envisioned as a kind of command center where top managers gather either in person or via high-quality video conferencing and immediately determine the biggest problems facing the business and who can fix it as soon as they arise. P&G now has more than 50 Business Sphere around the world. This tool is effective because P&G now can obtain data about sale, inventory, ad spending and shipment data much faster and more frequent time intervals.

c)       Decision Cockpits

It gives more of its employees the access to the same common data sources, these cockpits are dashboards displaying easy-to-read charts illustrating business status and trends. It feature automated alerts when important events occur, control charts, statistical analyses in real time and the ability to drill down to more detailed data. By providing a one-stop source of accurate and detailed real-time business data, all employees are able to focus instead on decisions for improving business.

How are these systems related to P&G’s business strategy?

P&G uses “Distributed development” as part of their global model. This model allows for the adaption in a set of tools and practices that fit an organization’s needs. To success, P&G has been robust information technology and willingness to pursue new IT to maintain a competitive advantage in its industry. The Business Sufficiency program, Business Sphere and Decision Cockpits, give managers and executives the faster and better decision making. The systems have been reduced complexity involved a statistical report, as well as cost reductions. The implementation of these systems enable P&G better anticipate future events affecting the business and more quickly respond to market stimuli. These systems eliminate time spent debating different data sets and instead use a system that allows management and employees to focus on immediate business decisions using most accurate data available at that precise moment.