Transcript COMP3115 Information Systems - The University of the West Indies

COMP3115
Information Systems
Session 8: E-Business Strategy: Architecture and Design – Part II
Dr. Paul Walcott
Spring 2007/2008
http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/staff/eportfolios/paulwalcott/courses/comp3115/
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Session Objectives
Describe the use of ICT in e-Business
 Evaluate business process performance

© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Introduction

In this session we will be taking a look at
e-business and finding out:
 Some
of the ICT used in e-Business, for
example Intranets
 How to evaluate the performance of business
processes
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Intranets

More businesses are turning to Intranets
to cut cost (Laudon & Laudon 2005)
 Intranets
help to integrate internal business
processes
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Intranets Cont’d

Benefits of Intranets include (Laudon &
Laudon 2005):
– connecting from any location
 Connectivity – can be connected to the preexisting systems in the company
 Scalability – Can be scaled as required
 Accessibility
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Intranets Cont’d
– ease of use
 Low cost – to implement / cost savings in document
distribution (e.g. over paper documents)
 Rich information content – including text, video and
sound
 Usability

An Intranet can be used by collaborating groups
at a distance
 To
share documents and ideas
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Intranets Cont’d

Examples of Intranet applications for eBusiness include:
and accounting – integrated online
 Human resources – publish policies, job
postings and forms
 Sales and marketing – staff can connect for
price updates and special promotions
 Finance
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Using ICT for Business Functions

There are several benefits of doing
business electronically (Gordon & Gordon,
2004):
 Reduced

Cost of paper, postage, reduced inventory holding
cost
 Increase

transaction cost
the speed of business
Product production and delivery
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Using ICT for Business Functions
Cont’d
Conduct business anywhere at anytime
 Improve workflows

 Replace
paper with electronic documents
(workflow software connects business
processes in the value chain together)

Reduce errors and improve quality
 No
retyping of information, quality checks on
electronic information
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Business Performance Variables

Output Rate
 The

amount of completed work (output) per unit time
Activity Rate
 “the
number of interim steps performed per unit time
(Alter, 2002)”

Consistency
 “applying
the same techniques in the same way to
obtain the same desired result (Alter, 2002)”
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Business Performance Variables
Cont’d

Productivity
 “relationship
between the amount of output produced
by a business process and the amount of money,
time and effort it consumes (Alter, 2002)”


This is measured in units of output per labour hour or dollar
sales per month
Cycle time
 the
length of time between the start and end of a
process
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Business Performance Variables
Cont’d

Downtime
 The
amount of time that the process is out of
operation

Security
 How
susceptible is the business process to
unauthorised use, sabotage or criminal
activity
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
Conclusions

In this session we discussed
 The
importance of intranets to e-business
 The benefits of using ICT for business
functions
 Business process performance variables
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus
References
Alter, Steven. 2002. Information Systems: The Foundations of EBusiness. 4th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Gordon, Steven, R. and Judith R. Gordon. 2004. Information Systems:
A Management Approach. 3rd Edition, Wiley.
Laudon, Kenneth, C., Jane, P. Laudon. 2005. Essentials of
Management Information Systems: Management the Digital Firm. 6th
Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall
© 2008 Dr. Paul Walcott – The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus