This study guide is intended to underscore key points for your readings, lecture, and from your homework. This study guide will assist you with studying for the upcoming exam. You may create a common cheat sheet with your group. You get up to 50 pages front and back for your cheat sheet. I won't count a table of contents as part of your 50 page allotment.
The Future of IT (Topher White)
What is technology? What therefore is Information Technology?
What does Topher mean by LBGUPS? Where was it invented?
What does technology primarily give us?
Can you describe "ubuiquity" in IT? How is it achieved?
Can you describe these two concepts: "scale" vs. "skill"?
What is the counterpoint to "scale"? Can you describe some examples?
In IT, what creates innovation? Can you describe it with reference to portability vs. quality?
Around what two principles are businesses built?
Are disruptive innovations just as good as the incumbent products? In what ways?
Alan's Lectures
* What are Alan's two definitions for Information Technology? Why does he define IT in these ways?
* What is a critical success factor? What is MBWA? What is a definition of Vision?
What are Alan's two definitions for Information Technology? Why
does he define IT in these ways?
Why is learning about IT so important for business managers?
Can you outline and apply the model for IT dept success
factors?
The Origin of IT: from what department did IT emerge? What was the origin of the major IT consulting companies? Why is it often problematic for IT to be controlled by the Finance department?
What is a business process? What is Business Process
Reengineering?
What is the relationship between advances (or technology disruptions)
and process reengineering? How does the American Airlines Sabre Case illustrate
this?
What is a broken process? Can you describe how I might find broken
processes? What is a legacy process?
Why is it so important to have an Executive to champion important IT
projects? Is executive sponsorship enough? Or is there something else
required?
Why might we outsource our IT for a crucial project?
Define and describe Alignment
What is a critical success factor? Describe them to me? What types
of questions are associated with Critical Success Factors? What is MBWA?
What is a definition of Vision?
What item is most often seriously underestimated in IT projects?
What's the relation between rapid technological change and process
reengineering?
What is Moore's first law? What is Metcalfe's law?
How might you handle IT consultants added to your project? How might you select them? What questions might you ask? With respect to using IT consultants, what could you see as a critical success factor for most IT projects? How do you ensure knowledge transfer?
What does it mean to "Go vanilla"?
What is good enough reengineering? How does it relate to customer design requirements gathering? What's the difference between the BlueSky approach to gathering design priorities from your customer versus a Realistic approach to your customer?
What are some software process reengineering tips? (hint: look at the slides surrounding "imagine a world without software" - it relates to Alan's six tips; you can also take them from the lecture on the intro to Proj Mgt).
Project Management
What is an early crises? Why would you use it?
Distinguish the differences between Software projects vs. non-software projects?
How do I hold
conversations with the finance department about projects, especially when
the finance dept pits IT projects against funding “new carpets”?
* Why is it so important to have an Executive to champion important IT
projects? Is executive sponsorship enough? Or is there something else
required?
* Why might we outsource our IT for a crucial project?
What considerations were mentioned for project due
diligence?
What considerations were mentioned for
evaluating consultants?
Role of IT
* What item is most often seriously underestimated in IT projects?
* Define and describe Alignment
* List the basic responsibilities for IT departments and IT managers
What were IT organizations initially created to solve? Why is this
problematic for today's work?
What is the business model inherent in leveraging information
technology? What does IT provide? (hint: it isn't necessarily speed, but ...?)
(This is actually from Topher's lecture)
Describe and contrast the following: CIO versus CTO.
* The Origin of IT: from what department did IT emerge? What was the origin of the major IT consulting companies? Why is it often problematic for IT to be controlled by the Finance department?
* Why is learning about IT so important for business managers?
* Can you outline and apply the model for IT dept success
factors?
*What is sneakernet?
*What does it mean to have a smoothly integrated IT?
Creative Destruction / Disruptive Innovations
* What is Moore's first law? What is Metcalfe's law?
Process Management
* What are the different types of benchmarking introduced by Alan? What are image customers and image team members? Why does Alan prefer "copy intelligently" vs. "copy exactly"?
* What is a business process? What is Business Process
Reengineering?
* What is the relationship between advances (or technology disruptions)
and process reengineering? How does the American Airlines Sabre Case illustrate
this?
* What is a broken process? Can you describe how I might find broken
processes? What is a legacy process?
Computer Systems
2. Distinguish between Mainframes, Supercomputers, Workstations, and mobile devices. How do they differ in: speed; relative costs; and usage? Why is the mainframe still important? (Hint: see The Mainframe Renaisassance It’s an old article but still applies)
3. Define Middleware
4. What is an enterprise app?
5. What is Data Warehousing?
6. What is a CRM (also from an assignment)
7. Define the following terms: MRP, ERP, SCM, CRM
Computer Software
2. Briefly describe the software trends. What are scripting languages? (e.g. php) What is Ajax? What distinguishes a so-called Web 2.0 site or app from other sites?
5. What is a relational databases? What makes it “relational”.
7. Know the following acronyms: OOP, Ajax, Scripting language (e.g.PhP),
Telecommunications & Networking
5. Explain how packet switching works. Why is packet switching important? What is an X.25 packet switched network? What is an IP network (hint: what is the internet?). How is this different from traditional “circuit switching”?
7. Which of these media has the fastest transmission speed? The slowest speed? Twisted Pair (and its flavors), infrared, Coaxial cable (and its flavors), Radio Frequency Wireless, Fiber Optic Cables, and Microwave.
9. Know the following Acronyms: LAN, POTS, CLEC, PBX, WAN, LAN, VSAT, 2.5G, 3G, GPRS, CDMA, GSM, TDMA
10. Definitions: Fat/Thin Server/Clients, Distributed processing, bandwidth, VPN, Multiplexing
12. Define hub, bridge, router, and switch.
13. What are 802.11b and 802.11g? What is fixed wireless?
MidSouth I Case
1. Why do you suppose organizations outsource their IT work to an outside vendor or consultant?
2. How technically sophisticated must an IT Manager be? How about a CIO? How about an Analyst? What's more important: business sophistication or technical sophistication?
2b. A friend tells you that she is really smart about the hardware technologies and software programming, that she's "computer-literate" and that makes her qualified to be the Director of the IT department. Do you agree or disagree with her? Explain your reasons.
3. Why is executive support so necessary? Why does Alan say that isn't enough?
4. What type of project champion does Alan want for large IT projects?
3. Is executive support enough? Or does Alan believe that something greater is required for project success? Contrast executive sponsorship versus executive adoption
4. From where should the IT Project Champion come? Should he or she come from the MIS department?
5. Describe the model presented for IT Organizational Success Factors
6. What is a systems analyst? What is a business analyst? Does a typical Computer Science program train for analysts?
Text Concepts (Workflow Modeling Text)
What is Alan's complaint about IT documentation? How does it dovetail with voluntary simplicity?
In chapter 2, Alec & Patrick discuss the Pros and Cons of each work era (20-24). While I don’t expect you to have a comprehensive list for this exam, I want you to know the pros and cons of BPR.
What is the difference between a process and a function?
What is a framework? What three elements are comprised in creating clear objectives? (hint: the Three Ts on p. 33)
Describe the five-tier architecture described by the authors on pg 40-44. What tools are used at each layer?
According to Alec, what’s a process? (57-60) In other words, provide Alec’s definition and then decompose the definition and provide a description of the components. What’s the critical endpoint of reengineering?
What’s the difference between a core process versus an internal process? For what reason(s) does the authors state that it’s good to know the difference between core versus internal processes (or even Technical supporting vs. Internal supporting)? (64-65)
Why is bigger usually better? What are Goldilocks errors? (66-68). How should I initially scope a process?
How does Alec provide visibility for the consumers of process
documents? What are some guidelines for documenting or reengineering processes?
(*Hint: Voluntary simplicity*)
How can simple top-level diagrams (e.g. sticky notes) be effective for
analyzing processes?
What is a Use Case?
What are mushy verbs? What does it mean to label processes by verb-noun?
Grandma Studor Case
* What is a critical success factor?
* What item is most often seriously underestimated in IT projects? (*answer:
training*)
*What are the advantages and disadvantages of user-developed versus
IS-developed apps?
* Should an MIS dept audit every process and supporting application?
How do you decides which ones to target?
*What are the pros and cons of User Application Development?
What drives the creation of applications by users?
*What is user-application development?
*How do you assess processes? (*hint: Can I do it by using a survey? What else can I do to help me understand it?*)
Starbucks
1. What is Alan's definition for Supply Chain Mgt?
2. What is the bullwhip effect? How do we mitigate it?
3. Contrast Best of Breed vs. Hybrid vs. Single Vendor.
4. What does Starbucks teach you about enterprise app implementation? What's often the real agenda behind a "best of breed" implementation? What does Alan mean by "Best of Suite"? What does Alan mean by "Application Platform"?
5. Can you comment on the evolution of companies? Specifically, what changes in a startup that grows fast and large? What happens to their processes? Why does IT become an important feature?
Owens Corning & Associated Lecture
1. What is the relationship of advances in IT to Business
Process Reengineering?
4. What are the differences between organizational CSFs versus IT CSFs?
6. Will IT architecture changes alone create organizational change?
Is it all about organizational silos? What's the relation between data
silos and organizational silos?
7. State the reasons why a memo (such as you're creating for your project)
is such an important document for companies? How might it have been useful
to Grandma Studor's Bakery or Midsouth Chamber of Commerce?
8. What are the primary categories found in an ERP system? What are the
primary reasons for implementing an ERP system?
9. What are Problems Associated with Global IT?
10. Can you get the ERP benefits without integrating your processes across
functions? Why?
11. What is Enterprise Software? How is Enterprise Software is different
from Desktop Software?
12. What are some Pros and Cons of an aggressive implementation? What is
good enough reengineering?
13. What are systems integrators? What is the origin of the big IT
consulting houses like Deloitte?
14. What are the relative pros and cons of the four different systems
implementation strategies (i.e. phased, pilot, parallel, big-bang)?
15. Argue why an Enterprise App vendor is really a process company rather than just a software company. Discuss how this affects your choice of an Enterprise App vendor.
16. How does delaying customization ala "good enough reengineering" help or hurt the development of good business process?
17. How does having standardized, sometimes vanilla software & processes, help? You can use Owens-Corning as an example. What are some heuristics for implementing process standardization? (From both the actual lecture (only if you were listening) plus the posted slides)
Due Diligence & Implementation Success Factors (Alan's Lecture)
1. Understand the first three tips on enterprise app implementation (The 10 "commandments") from Alan. we're focusing on the ones dealing with strategy.
2. How does Alan suggest you handle IT consultants added to your project? How might you select them? What questions might you ask? What does Alan see as a critical success factor for most IT projects? How do you ensure knowledge transfer?
3. What does it mean to "Go vanilla"?
What is good enough reengineering? How does it relate to customer design requirements gathering? What's the difference between the BlueSky approach to gathering design priorities from your customer versus a Realistic approach to your customer?
What are some software process reengineering tips? How does Alan take a cynical look at software process management (hint: look at the slides surrounding "imagine a world without software"...it also relates to good enough reengineering).
With respect to software project size and scope, why does Alan says that "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"?
What is the Ripple Effect?
Why does Alan advocate an IT planning approach is a messy, untidy event? (hint: "write your plans in pencil") In other words, does the reality of the organization exist in an org chart? Or does it exist in the written policies?
With respect to SAP implementations, what differentiates "Winners" vs. "Losers"?
Although Alan says it's hard to do software project estimation based only on the project itself, how can you get decent project time and cost estimates? What must occur? Specify some ways in which you can improve project estimation.
What is Parkinson's law? What does it say with regard to underestimation vs. overestimating the time and resources required for a project?
If a large project falls behind, what happens when you suddenly throw a lot of new people onto the project?