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ANSWERS TO ANALYSIS EXERCISES
1. Understanding the Information System
Solutions:
Students will more easily grasp advanced concepts once they learn to think in terms of the basic information systems
structures. This exercise takes a familiar system and breaks it down into an information system’s components. This
A. A library is an information system.
a) Input
A library’s inputs consist of the items it receives for its collection. These items may consist of books,
periodicals, maps, microfiche, DVDs, CDs, and many others.
b) Processing
A library’s main processes revolve around checking out and checking in items from its collection.
c) Output
A library’s outputs consist of any information that leaves the library. This may take the form of item loans,
photocopies, and even hand-written notes.
d) Storage
A library’s storage systems include shelves for books, stacks for periodicals, file drawers for microfiche,
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2. IT Careers
Solutions:
What skills are required to be successful in the field of Information Systems? These skills change over time as new
technologies appear, and as mature technologies become mainstream. Over time, many of these skills are learned
and mastered earlier in life as society in general accepts these skills as general knowledge.
Are You Ready?
If you are looking for a job in information technology, it helps to know what’s hot. Read the CIO article IT
Questions:
a) What are the four skills from higher-education institutions in demand?
b) For each skill above, list the associated course numbers and names offered by your college or university.
Use bold italics to denote courses required for all business majors; use bold to denote courses required for
all information technology majors.
c) Are the required courses sufficient to give you the competitive edge you need (given your major)? Explain.
d) List three required general education or “core curriculum” courses you believe provide you with the least
value in the job market. Justify your answers.
Answers:
a) Programming, database, analysis & architecture, technical problem solving
3. Skydive Chicago: Efficiency and Feedback
a) How can this information system benefit the skydiving student?
Benefits:
• Faster learning – students see what they are doing right and wrong
b) How can this information system benefit Skydive Chicago?
Benefits:
• Marketing – student videos make great promotional tools
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c) Draw the information systems model (Figure 1.19, the information system model). Fill in your diagram
with people, hardware, software, etc. information from this exercise.
Diagram Element
Detail
People resources
Student / jumpmaster
Software resources
Record, play, and copy video.
Hardware resources
Video camera, VCR, DVD, VHS tape
VCR and camera cables
Data resources
Video
Process
View, copy video
Output
Copy to student, copy to library
Storage
Control
Management policy, training room library access
4. Are Textbooks History?
Solutions:
Many students are familiar with both Google and Wikipedia. This exercise will help bring the remaining students
up to speed and enable thoughtful classroom discussion. It will also increase student’s exposure to this chapter’s
vocabulary.
a) Go to http://www.google.com and use the search box to look up “End-user.” Were any of Google’s first five
search results useful with respect to this course?
b) Go to http://www.wikipedia.com/ and use the search box to look up “Knowledge worker.” Compare
Wikipedia’s article to the information provided within this textbook. Which source did you find easiest to
use? What advantages did Wikipedia provide? What advantages did this textbook provide?
Textbooks can be used anywhere and do not require additional hardware, a network connection, or
c) Between Google, Wikipedia, and this textbook, which source provides the most useful information about
“Intranets”? Why?
Google users must first sift through topic-related articles to find information they need. Considering the
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5. Disaster Recovery
Note: the answers to these questions require a fair amount of commons sense. This exercise may make an
excellent in-class discussion topic. Consider asking students if they have ever “lost” important work. Ask them
to elaborate on the circumstances. Stories of lost files abound. Students should get into good data management
practices early and maintain them throughout their careers. This exercise stimulates thinking and may result in
improved practices. It also supports a “no excuses” policy toward future class work. “My computer crashed” is
not a valid excuse for failing to turn in work.
1) Failing to frequently save work in progress
2) Failing to make a backup-copy
3) Storing original and backup copies in the same location
a) How might this mistake result in data loss?
b) What procedures could you follow to minimize this risk?
Answers:
1 a. The user might forget to save his or her work before exiting the application. Power might go out.
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ANSWERS TO REAL WORLD CHALLENGE/SOLUTION
Real World Challenge
1. Why does Crescent Healthcare need to replace its current technologies? The company has very likely
invested huge sums in its core applications over time, they seem to work as expected, and people know how
to use them, even if they have some quirks. Is it worth starting all over again?
If Crescent Healthcare’s systems are about 20 years old and have barely been touched in that time, then those
systems are hopelessly out of date, even if they are doing what they were originally intended to do. One thing
Why replace current technologies?
• its current technologies are 20 years old and out of date
Where is the value of their systems?
None of this can happen with the current systems and technologies at C.H. If C.H. wants to provide first class
2. What are some of the alternatives that Michalak has for achieving these objectives? That is, in which ways
could the revamping of existing applications be accomplished? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each?
Alternatives
• in-house custom programming
Advantages
o the work can be accomplished by in-house systems staff
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• SaaS / Cloud
Advantages
o fastest to implement (no hardware to install and configure)
• Outsourcing: The entire work could be contracted to an outside provider.
Advantages
o hiring a contractor who specializes in this area saves time, and places success of and the
Disadvantages
o this may be very expensive – C.H. needs to compare the financial costs in-house development
against the costs of outsourcing
3. Beyond replacing the current systems with more modern ones, what other functionality would you add to
Crescent’s IT infrastructure? In what ways would you make the new systems different from the current
ones?
A thorough needs assessment should be undertaken at Crescent Healthcare. What are the actual needs and
desires of the workers and caregivers to do their jobs, or to do them better? What are the costs of these
Real World Solution
1. Brett Michalak sees the efforts undertaken by Crescent Healthcare as providing the company with a
competitive advantage over others in its industry. Can you provide three examples of how these
technologies may provide them with a competitive advantage?
There can be many different ways to create competitive advantage with the efforts at C.H., such as:
A. Engaging and Retaining employees
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B. Immediate feedback – By providing direct, immediate, onsite access to diagnostic, treatment, and pharmaceutical
information C.H. provides patients with services that may not be offered by their competition. This is an
outstanding way to create competitive advantage: give the patients what they want – immediate feedback to their
questions and concerns about their health.
2. Based on your experience with the healthcare industry, what other projects do you see a company like
Crescent Healthcare undertaking in the future? Does their new infrastructure position them well for
those future initiatives? Why or why not?
Given that Crescent Healthcare is upgrading its technology and infrastructure to current industry standards, and
that through the cloud it should stay abreast changes as they appear, C.H. should be positioned to pursue any new
ANSWERS TO REAL WORLD CASES
RWC 1: eCourier, Cablecom, and Bryan Cave
Case Study Questions
1. How do information technologies contribute to the business success of the companies depicted in the
case? Provide an example from each company explaining how the technology implemented led to
improved performance.
These technologies enable fact based decision making.
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2. In the case of law firm Bryan Cave discussed above, the use of BI technology to improve the availability,
access, and presentation of existing information allowed them to provide tailored and innovative services
to their customers. What other professions could benefit from a similar use of these technologies, and
how? Develop two different possibilities.
Students should consider other hourly billing based professional services industries. Examples include:
• consulting firms
3. Cablecom developed a prediction model to better identify those customers at risk of switching to other
company in the near future. In addition to those noted in the case, what other actions could be taken if
that information were available? Give some examples of these. Would you consider letting some
customers leave anyway? Why?
In addition to identifying at-risk customers, these tools might also help identify problem products, services,
Real World Activities
1. Use the Internet to research the latest offerings in business intelligence technologies and their uses by
companies. What differences can you find with those reviewed in the case? Prepare a report to
2. Why do some companies in a given industry, like eCourier above, adopt and deploy innovative
technologies while others in the same line of business do not? Break into small groups with your
classmates to discuss what characteristics of companies could influence their decision to innovate with the
use of information technologies.
Characteristics:
Chapter 01 – Foundations of Information Systems in Business
• Capital resources
RWC 2: The New York Times and Boston Scientific
Case Study Questions
1. As stated in the case, the New York Times chose to deploy their innovation support group as a shared
service across business units. What do you think this means? What are the advantages of choosing this
approach? Are there any disadvantages?
Shared service
A shared service means that it’s a resource available to all the organization’s business units. Typically, shared
2. Boston Scientific faced the challenge of balancing openness and sharing with security and the need for
restricting access to information. How did the use of technology allow the company to achieve both
objectives at the same time? What kind of cultural changes were required for this to be possible? Are
these more important than the technology-related issues? Develop a few examples to justify your answer.
Technology
Boston Scientific accomplished its objective by implementing an automated workflow application to help them
manage information access.
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3. The video rental map developed by the New York Times and Netflix graphically displays movie
popularity across neighborhoods from major US cities. How would Netflix use this information to
improve their business? Could other companies also take advantage of these data? How? Provide some
examples.
Possible business improvements
Real World Activities
1. The newspaper industry has been facing serious challenges to its viability ever since the Internet made
news available online. In addition to those initiatives described in the case, how are the New York Times
and other leading newspapers coping with these challenges? What do you think the industry will look like
5 or 10 years from now? Go online to research these issues and prepare a report to share your findings.
Note 1: does the current generation even read traditional newspapers?1
Current state
Traditional newspapers have expanded to the Internet. The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The
Search terms
“future of newspapers”
Future
Users will be able to indicate their current “state” or “mode” or “status” and receive news appropriate for the
moment. For example, the “newspaper” software would present top local, regional, national, and international
service.
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It’s distinctly possible that services providers will have so much information about a user – including real-time
physical location and purchasing desires, that advertising revenue will increase. For example, how much would
2. Go online and search the Internet for other examples of companies using technology to help them
innovate and develop new products or services. Break into small groups with your classmates to share
your findings and discuss any trends or patterns you see in current uses of technology in this regard.
Examples abound within this text and online. One example worth following closely is Google’s Android