Infromation Systems

1. What type of problems was the consolidated city-country government of Denver, Colorado experiencing with document managing before instituting the Alfresco ECM system?

Before Denver started using the Alfresco ECM system there were a few problems that they encountered. There were 14 different document managing systems being used and none of the system were able to communicate or interact with each other. The IT department had many issues with document sharing and security but also the ability to audit record keeping functions. The employee productivity was negatively impacted due to wasting time locating lost documents, duplication of IT functions, and because of difficult to use document scanning applications. Also, it cost the city $1.5 billion dollars.

2. How did the Alfresco ECM system provide solutions to these problems? The Alfresco ECM system helped provide solutions for the many problems Denver was having. The 14 different systems were eliminated and just one was used making it more secure and easily searchable for employees across agencies. These changes helped improve employee productivity. This system would save the city $1 million dollars a year.

3. What management, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed in selecting and implementing Denver’s new content management system? There were many issues that needed to be addresses when in selecting and implementing Denver’s new content management system. All the problems that they were originally having needed to be eliminated for good, and the system had to be more efficient. This is how they would get employees productivity up and most likely the morale also.

4. How did the new content management system change governmental processes for Denver? How did it benefit citizens? The new content management system changed governmental processes for Denver by employees being able to view contracts and associated content within the familiar interface plus Complete automation of the contract requisition, writing, and authorization processes resulted in accelerated contract approval time and enhanced contract and financial document auditing. Citizens were now able to access documents online at a reduced cost. Citizen were able to use the 311 system through IPhones and IPads if they wanted to report a non-emergency to the city. Also the online 311 technology would allow initiatives such as migrating various licensing, permitting, and inspection programs online and making them accessible to mobile devices.

Firewire Surfboards Light Up with CAD
Page 432

1. Analyze Firewire using the value chain and competitive forces models. Firewire uses expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam and epoxy resins with aerospace composites for the deck skin and balsa wood rails that create a more flexible and maneuver-able product. The balsa wood add flex response time and the ability to maintain speed during dangerous maneuvers. These are things that no other company uses and put them ahead of their competitors.

2. What strategies is Firewire using to differentiate its product, reach its customers, and persuade them to buy its products?

Firewire created a more flexible, lighter, and maneuverable product that separated them from the rest surfboard makers. Another strategies that use is making their board more environmental friendly then all of their competition. They also started making custom boards for customers, Surfboards’ Custom Board Design (CBD) system allowed users to easily manipulate board dimensions of established models within design parameters. No board would ever be replicated.

3. What is the role of CAD in Firewire’s business model?
It was said that the company thrives on innovation and what better than a computerized aided design system that allowed customers to design their own custom boards.

4. 4. How did the integration of online custom board design software (CBD),
CAD, and computer numerical control (CNC) improve Firewire’s operations? All of these technologies resulted in a board that is 97 percent complete, minimizing the manufacturing time, finishing process, and lessened the cost for the customer.

Colgate-Palmolive Keeps Managers Smiling with Executive
page 476

1. Describe the different types of business intelligence users at Colgate-Palmolive. There were senior managers and other casual users that receive daily an HTML table showing a series of financial and operational metrics for the day compared to the previous month and quarter, with this they are to make daily decisions and answer questions from senior executives that received the same information as them.

2. Describe the “people” issues that were affecting Colgate’s ability to use business intelligence.

Colgate’s senior managers and other casual users did not feel comfortable running ad hoc reports or drilling down into the layers of data to answer questions because the reports that they would receive were very poor. While the power users received the same reports and had to problem viewing them. Eventually Colgate’s senior managers and other casual users began requesting deeper access to the warehouse data in a more timely and user-friendly format.

3. What management, organization, and technology factors had to be addressed in providing business intelligence capabilities for each type of user? In order for everyone to get what they wanted there was many different things that needed to be done with the different programs that were going to be implemented. For example not everyone can have access to see the same information as executives.

4. What kind of decisions does Colgate’s new business intelligence capability support? Give three examples. What is their potential business impact?

Managers can determine positive or negative financial conditions by simply looking for where dashboard reports use the color green, which reflects improvements in Colgate’s financial position. This is great for the business because it is simple and straight to the point, managers can see right away how the financial conditions of the company is doing and try to make changes to it as soon as possible. That is something that could make or break a company if not looked after properly. Executives that relied on other people to get their custom reports and data are able to access the information on their own at ease. This makes work much easier and saves time. Everyone is now able to make faster decisions which is always a great benefit for a company to have, and everyone is on the same page. The employee intrinsic satisfaction is most likely higher since less work needs to get done in order to get the reports needed.