Chapter 11
Information Systems Management
This Could Happen to You: “You’ve Got the
Fox in Charge of the Hen House”
Fox Lake needs a senior manager to manage its IS function
Jeff is told he is the best one to do it
Conflict of interest issues discovered
Security issues for servers, applications, data
Scenario video
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Study Questions
Q1: Why do you need to know about the IS department?
Q2: What are the responsibilities of the IS department?
Q3: How is the IS department organized?
Q4: What IS-related job positions exist?
Q5: How do organizations decide how much to spend on IS?
Q6: What are your IS rights and responsibilities?
How does the knowledge in this chapter help Fox Lake and you?
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Q1: Why Do You Need to Know About the IS
Department?
You might someday be a manger of a business that is too small
to hire a full-time IS manager.
To avoid problems like those that Jeff will find he has in Chapter
12:
You need to understand the responsibilities and duties of the IS
department so you can be an effective consumer of the IS
department’s resources.
To be a better informed and effective business planner or
innovator.
IS a major element of nearly every organization. Understanding
IS responsibilities and organization of IS department is key for
every business professional.
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Q2: What Are the Responsibilities of the IS
Department?
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Plan for Information Systems and IT
Infrastructure
Align IT activities with organization’s
primary goals and objectives
Assess technology and determine if it
can be used to advance organization’s
goals
Agile enterprise infrastructure to
support an agile business
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Plan for Information Systems and IT
Infrastructure (cont’d)
Develop and adapt information systems and IT
infrastructure
 IS department responsible for creating computer networks, servers,
data centers, data warehouses, data marts, email systems, VPNs,
company blogs, SharePoint sites, and related infrastructure.
Maintain information systems, operate and manage
infrastructure
Managing IT operations
Manage development processes
Manage outsourcing relations
Protect Infrastructure and data from threats
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Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 11:
What’s that Humming Sound?
“Green computing”—environmentally conscious computing consisting
of: Power management, virtualization, and e-waste management.
In this exercise, we focus on power.
Proponents of green computing encourage companies and employees
to reduce power and water consumption by turning off devices when
not in use.
Is this issue important? Is it just a concession to environmentalists to
make computing professionals appear virtuous?
Form a team and develop your own, informed opinion by considering
computer use at your campus.
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Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 11:
What’s that Humming Sound? (cont’d)
1. Search the Internet to determine the power requirements for
typical computing and office equipment. Consider laptop
computers, desktop computers, CRT monitors, LCD monitors, and
printers. For this exercise, ignore server computers. As you search,
be aware that a watt is a measure of electrical power. It is watts
that the green computing movement wants to reduce.
2. Estimate the number of each type of device in use on your
campus. Use your university’s website to determine the number of
colleges, departments, faculty, staff, and students. Make
assumptions about the number of computers, copiers, and other
types of equipment used by each.
3. Using the data from items 1 and 2, estimate the total power used
by computing and related devices on your campus.
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Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 11:
What’s that Humming Sound? (cont’d)
4. A computer that is in screensaver mode uses the same amount
of power as one in regular mode. Computers that are in sleep
mode, however, use much less power, say 6 watts per hour.
Reflect on computer use on your campus and estimate the
amount of time that computing devices are in sleep vs.
screensaver or use mode. Compute the savings in power that
result from sleep mode.
5. Computers that are automatically updated by the IS
department with software upgrades and patches cannot be
allowed to go into sleep mode because if they are sleeping they
will not be able to receive the upgrade. Hence, some
universities prohibit sleep mode on university computers (sleep
mode is never used on servers, by the way). Determine the cost,
in watts, of such a policy.
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Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 11:
What’s that Humming Sound? (cont’d)
6. Calculate
monthly
cost, in
watts, if:
a. All user computers run full time night and
day.
b. All user computers run full time during work
hours and in sleep mode during off-hours.
c. All user computers are shut off during nonwork hours.
7. Given your
answers to
items 1–6:
a. Is computer power management during offhours a significant concern?
b. In comparison to the other costs of running a
university, does this issue really matter?
Discuss this question among your group and
explain your answer.
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Q3: How Is the IS Department Organized?
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Q4: What IS-Related Job Positions Exist?
Business analyst
Service salesperson
Programmer
Small-scale project manager
PQA test engineer
Large-scale project manager
Technical writer
User support rep.
Computer technician
Network administrator
Consultant
Database administrator
CTO
CIO
See Figure 11-3 for details
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Job Positions in the Information Systems
Industry
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Job Positions in the Information Systems
Industry (cont’d)
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Job Positions in the Information Systems
Industry (cont’d)
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IT Position Requirements
Most positions require business knowledge plus technical
knowledge
Many require university degrees
Most require good verbal and writing skills
Think dual major with MIS/CIS to enhance your competitive
advantage
•Accounting and information systems
•Marketing and information systems
•Management and information systems
•HRM and information systems
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Q5: How Do Organizations Decide How
Much to Spend on IS?
Cost-benefit analysis
Estimate dollar costs
Value tangible costs an tangible benefits
Software license (tangible cost)
Reduce customer support cost 10% (tangible benefit)
Value intangible costs and intangible benefits
Value of email system (intangible benefit)
Customer dissatisfaction (intangible cost)
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Q6: What Are Your IS Rights and
Responsibilities?
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Q6: What Are Your IS Rights and
Responsibilities? (cont’d)
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How Does the Knowledge in This Chapter
Help Fox Lake and You?
Jeff needs this knowledge to understand how he should be
managing IS and IT resources at Fox Lake.
He could have prevented problem you will learn about in
Chapter 12.
You can use knowledge to be a more informed consumer
of IS department services.
Help your organization better manage and plan its
information systems and IT Infrastructure.
Work better with IS department on innovative project you
envision that have an IS component.
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Ethics Guide: Using the Corporate Computer
Suppose you are a manager at a company with
the stated policy.
“Computers, email, and the Internet are to be used primarily for
official company business. Small amounts of personal email
can be exchanged with friends and family, and occasional
usage of the Internet is permitted, but such usage should be
limited and never interfere with your work.”
You learn one of your employees has been
engaged in the activities listed on following slide.
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Ethics Guide: Using the Corporate Computer
(cont’d)
1. Playing computer games during work
hours
2. Playing computer games before and
after work hours
3. Responding to emails from an ill
parent
4. Watching DVDs during lunch and
breaks
5. Sending emails to plan a party that
mostly involves people from work
6. Sending emails to plan a party that
involves hardly anyone from work
7. Updating your Facebook page
8. Reading news on CNN.com
9. Checking stock market over Internet
10. Tweeting friends on your computer
about your softball win last night.
11. Selling personal items on eBay
12. Paying personal bills online
13. Paying personal bills online when
traveling on company business
14. Buying an airplane ticket for an ill
parent over the Internet
15. Changing content of a personal
website
16. Changing content of a personal
business website
17. Buying an airplane ticket for a
personal vacation over Internet
1. Explain how you would respond to each situation.
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Ethics Guide: Using the Corporate Computer
(cont’d)
2. Suppose someone from the IS department notifies you that one of
your employees is spending 3 hours a day surfing the web. How do
you respond?
3. For question 2, suppose you ask how the IS department knows
about your employee and you are told, “We secretly monitor
computer usage.” Do you object to such monitoring? Why or why
not?
4. Suppose someone from the IS department notifies you that one of
your employees is sending many personal emails. When you ask
how they know the emails are personal, you are told that they
measure account activity and that when suspicious email usage is
suspected the IS department reads employees’ email. Do you think
such reading is legal? Is it ethical? How do you respond?
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Ethics Guide: Using the Corporate Computer
(cont’d)
5. As an employee, if •If so, does that justify the company
you know that
reading your email? Does this
your company
situation differ from having
occasionally
someone read your personal postal
reads emails,
mail that happens to be delivered
does that change
to you at work? Why or why not?
your behavior?
6. Write what you think is the best corporate policy for
personal computer usage at work.
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Guide: Jumping Aboard the Bulldozer
Recent media reports blame U.S. job loss to overseas
outsourcing
Real culprit is increased productivity because of information technology
Creative destruction—“Cleansers of the free market”
 Economic processes remove unneeded jobs; keep economy
growing and prospering
Economic recovery without binge of new hiring
What should you do to protect yours job from being outsourced?
 Be a business professional who can use technology
 Use technology and information systems to help your company
achieve goals and objectives
 Define yourself as an innovator
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Active Review
Q1: Why do you need to know about the IS department?
Q2: What are the responsibilities of the IS department?
Q3: How is the IS department organized?
Q4: What IS-related job positions exist?
Q5: How do organizations decide how much to spend on IS?
Q6: What are your IS rights and responsibilities?
How does the knowledge in this chapter help Fox Lake and you?
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
11-27
Case Study 11: Marriott International, Inc.
Operates and franchises hotels and lodging facilities
throughout world
2009 revenue was just over $10.91 billion
Marriott groups its business into segments according
to lodging facility
Major business segments are:
•Full-service lodging
•Select-service lodging
•Extended-stay lodging
•Timeshare properties
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Case Study 11: Marriott International, Inc.
(cont’d)
Three top corporate priorities are:
Profitability
Preference (traveler)
Growth
Revenue management system adjusts prices in
accordance with real-time demand
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Case Study 11: Marriott International, Inc.
(cont’d)
Marriott developed two different revenue management
systems, one for premium hotels and one for lower-priced
properties.
Both developed using pre-Internet technology
Required installing updates locally, which was expensive
and problematic
Two systems required separate interfaces for entering
prices into a centralized reservation system.
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Case Study 11: Marriott International, Inc.
(cont’d)
Marriott created a single revenue-management system to be used by
all of properties.
One Yield custom developed in-house, using process similar to SDLC
Understood importance of user involvement, formed joint IT-business
user team to developed business case for new system and jointly
manage development.
Team provided constant communication to system’s future users, and
used prototypes to identify problem areas early.
Training is continuing activity for all employees, and training facilities
were integrated into new system.
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Case Study 11: Marriott International, Inc.
(cont’d)
One Yield recommends prices for each room for given day, date,
current reservation levels, and history. Revenue manager at each
hotel property can override these recommendations.
Prices are communicated directly to centralized reservation
system.
One Yield uses web-based technology, so upgrades are done only
at web servers, not at individual hotels.
This strategy saves considerable maintenance cost, time, and
frustration.
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Case Study 11: Marriott International, Inc.
(cont’d)
One Yield computes theoretical maximum revenue
for each property and compares actual results to
that maximum.
One Yield increased ratio of actual to theoretical
revenue from 83% to 91%, which translated into
substantial increase in revenues.
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Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
Publishing as Prentice Hall