[solved]Week 11 Discussion - DMBA 620 9044 Effective Financial and Operational Decision Making (2175)
Week 11 Discussion
Locked after Sunday, August 6, 2017 11:59 PM EDT. Must post first.
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Assignment: Discussion Activity (8%)
Each student is to critically assess the 1) mission, 2) goals, and 3) importance of information
systems and their management (ISM) in the firm, 4) using their own work organization as an
example.
Clarification:
The single most important point made in these materials is that information systems, and their supporting
information technology plus included telecommunications technology, are not drivers in well-managed
organizations; instead, they are when properly used, supporters of the business mission and strategy.
That is true of UMUC, where the mission is educate with the major marketing strategy to be online. It is also true of
Amazon.com, where the mission is to make a profit selling a wide number of products, and the major marketing
strategy is again, online.
The second most important point, stressed by Professor McFarlan and epitomized by Amazon.com, Apple and Google,
is that properly-designed and -implemented information systems can convey a strategic competitive advantage to
their enterprises.
Example: Here is a start on contributing to this week's discussions, with an example using UMUC as the firm.
The mission of information systems management at University of Maryland University College is
to support the teaching and administrative processes of the university in an efficient and effective
(!, recall operations management) way
The goals of UMUC ISM include:
Being at the state of the art in course delivery at a distance. That's why we have used Webex,
google- and pdf format and audio/video materials
Providing 24x7 reliability in the Learning environment, in PeopleSoft and other essential
information systems. 360 Support is on call via message and telephone at all hours, for instance.
Conserving State and student (ie, tuition) resources in accomplishing the foregoing, which
Maryland taxpayers and the state legislature expect.
The importance of ISM at UMUC is extremely high, given
First, that the University has strategically decided to be the open university of Maryland and the
United States, providing learning services to a growing student body mostly* at a distance, thus
using information systems heavily.
Second, there are a plethora of state and federal regulations, plus community standards, that
govern the management of information at UMUC and thus provide continuing, importance-raising
challenges.**
*Currently, about 82% of UMUC Adelphi students study exclusively online, and another 10% learn through a
"hybrid" online/F2F program.
**One example is the accommodation requirements of the federal ADA - Americans with Disabilities - Act. These
require that information be delivered at UMUC in ways that accommodate, for instance, visually- and hearing-
impaired students. This means, for one example, that we must prepare - and pay for - transcripts of audio
materials for hearing-impaired students (and some professors too).
Let the discussion begin. You must first post your contribution, then respond to at least two of your classmates'
contributions with a thorough analytical critique. Agreement or disagreement is not the point; the point is to air
different perspectives so they can be compared, distinguished, and evaluated.
