Breakout Session

Business Name: Make Me a T-Shirt

Business Strategies:
1. Custom T-Shits at low prices ordered online and shipped internationally.
2. Purchase appropraite equiptment.
3. Make a Website
4. To use a low rent industrial premises as well as manufacturing and shipping centre.

Company Vision:
The aim of the company is to make the most original and fun T-shirts.

What the company does:
To sell T-shirts that are both pre-designed motifs and custom designed. Our webiste would allow you to design your own. Write slogans; choose from a few pre-designed logos to accompany it, the colours of your choice and placing of your personalised design.

The departments the company has:
- Marketing/Advertising Department
- Finance Department
- Manufacturing Department
- Human Resouce Department
- Shipping Department
- Website Design and Upkeep

Week 3: Hardware

The IT Infrustructure:

- Data Centre management and application hosting
- Network management
- Network and application monitoring
- Provide 2nd and 3rd level technical support through the IT Service Desk
- Architecture and design for infrastructure and networks
- Construction and development of IT infrastructure and voice and data networks
- Server support and system administration
- Database administration
- Network engineering
- Services and Support

Finance Department: Medium specs for standard application, Number Pads, Swipe Cards Entry, High Security, Biometrics -PC.

Marketing/ Adevrtising Depatment: Large Screens, High Resolution Output, Large Memory, Fast Processers - A Mac Computer.

Human Resource Department - Voice Inputs, Security, Inputs, Fast Keyboard, Erganomics Considered - PC.

The Processing Cycle:

Input- keyboard, mouse, bar code.

Processing- converts data into knowlegde

Output- monitor, printer, webpage.

Storage- Primary Storage (E.g. RAM, ROM) and Secondary Storage (E.g. Harddrive, USB, memory sticks)

Communications- internet, telephone, mobile phones, television.

Week 4: Application Software

Software to be used in each department of the business:
Marketing Department:
Aprimo – resource management (http://aprimo.com/)
Adobe Creative Suit – graphic and web design (http://adobe.com/products/creativesuit/)
ACT by Sage – Customer Contact Management (http://www.sagebusiness.com.au/)
Adapt SYSPRO – Customer Relationship Management (http://www.2020software.com/products/adaptcrm.asp)
Accounting Department:
Microsoft excel
MYOB (http://myob.com/)
Microsoft Dynamic GP – managing and integrating finance, e-commerce and project accounting (http://www.2020software.com/products/microsoft_dynamics_gp.asp)
Manufacturing Department:
Microsoft Dynamics AX – resource planning and collaborating trading partners (http://www.2020software.com/products/microsoft_dynamics_ax_manufacturing.asp
Human Resource:
Ultimate Software’s Ultipro – payroll, recruitment, web-portal (http://www.2020software.com/products/ultimate_software_ultipro.asp)
Logistics:
JAIX – deliveries in freight, transport, courier and warehousing (http://www.jaix.com.au/)
Internet Security:
Norton Antivirus (http://www.norton.com/)

Week 5: Security

Code of Ethics:
1: Society
I will uphold the health, safety and welfare of wider society, future generations and the environment.
2: Organisations
I will serve my employers and clients honestly, competently and diligently.
3: Peers
I will respect and support the legitimate needs, interests and aspirations of all my colleagues and peers.
4: Staff
I will encourage and assist those I supervise both to fulfil their responsibilities and to
develop their full potential.
5: Profession
I will strive to be a fit representative of my profession and to promote the vision of the Institute.
6: Self
I will be honest in representing myself and will continually strive to enhance both my
professional competence and my ethical understanding.

Security Threats:
Human Error – leaving computers un-attended when serving customers or choosing a password that can be easily hacked.
Malicious Activity – Failing to change a password after an employee has been terminated.
Natural disaster – blackouts, fires

Responses:
An initial response is to purchase a software package consisting of:
- Anti-virus
- Anti-spam
- Anti-spyware
- Phishing Filter
- Remote Management
Another response is to outsource data to external servers.

Disaster Recovery Plan:
One to avoid losing all the data is to store the information into external servers in a different area.

Week 6: Databases

Data we will store about customers and products:
· Sales Data – customers, sales and contacts
· Inventory Data – orders, stock, delivery.

Store about a customer and also a particular product.
1. Customer Name
2. Customer Identification Number
3. Phone Number
4. Customer Address
5. Order Description
6. Order Date
7. Delivery Date

The Primary Key:
Customer Identification Number. This will be a unique number for each individual customer.

Who will access the data and how:
Marketing department (CRM) and system administration will only be able to access data. To ensure that only authorized employees access the data, we would need to deploy an authorization declaration for permission to access personal information. To monitor that this information and protect customers, system administration would need to access this information without notifying the authorized user.

Week 7: Network Applications & E-Commerce

E-Commerce Model:

Pure E-Commerce. Busines will only be conducted virtually over the internet.

Items on our Website for purchase:

- Specialise in T-Shirts

But also produce:

- Hats

- Jumpers

- Shorts

- Long-sleeved shirts

- Pj's

And other accessories:

-Mugs

-Cups

-Key Rings

Online Marketing:

-Banners

-Pop-up ad

-pop-under ad

-Viral Marketing (people forwarding messages to friends)

Type of E-Commerce Undertaken:

- Business-to-Consumer (B2C) - we sell to individuals

- Business-to-Business (B2B) - we sell to other businesses

Web Applications:

-Commercial (public) Portal - intended for broad audiences

Week 8: Wireless Technologies

What ways will your company use wireless technologies?

- Telemetry Applications. the wireless transmission and reciept of data gathered from remote sensors, has numerous mobile computing applications. For example, technitians will use telemetry to identify maintenance problems in equiptment.

- Radio Frequency Inedtification (RAID). Attach tags on goods and then track their movement through radio signals. So the comapny can nseee where there customers are from as customers purchase from the internet so they cna be from any location.

Think about employee productivity and also selling your goods or passing on inforamtion to customers.

- Shopping from Wireless Devices. Use internet ready cell phones to shop at our website.

Think about capabilities to modern devices and their application to busienss and mobile commerce.

- Mobility. Most epople carry a mobile and can therefore initiate real-time contact with our systems from wherever theyhappen to be.

-Broad Reach. We cab reach mobile carriers instantly.

What limitations exist?

- security issues.

Chapter 6: Electronic Business & Electronic Commerce

1. Define e-commerce and distinguish it from e-business.
E-Commerce describes the process of buying, selling, transfering or exchanging products, services, or information via computer networks, including the internet.
E-Business is a somehat broader concept. In additon to buying and selling of goods and services, e-business also refers to seviving customer, collaborating with business partners, and performing electronic transactions within an organisation.

2. Distinguish among B2C, B2B, C2C and B2E electronic commerce.
B2C: the sellers are organisations, and the buyers are indiciduals.
B2B: both the sellers and buyers are business oeganisations.
B2E: an organisation uses Ec internally to provide information and services to its employees.

3. List some benefits and limitations of e-commerce.
Benefits:
-Benefits organisations by making national and international markets more accessbile and by lowering the costs of processing, distributing, and retrieving iformation.
-Customers benefit by being able to access a vast number of products and services, around the lock.
-The major benefit to society is the ability to easily and convieniently deliver information, services, and products to people in teh cities, rural areas,a nd developing countries.

Limitations:
-Technical limitations include the lack of universally accepted security standards, insufficient telecommunications bandwidth, end expecive accessibilty.
-Nontechnological limitations include the perceptions taht EC is insecure, has uresolved legal issues, and lacks a critical mass of sellers and buyers.
As time passes, the limitations, especially the technologiacl ones, will lesson or be overcome.

6.2 B2C E-Commerce

1. List the major issues relating to e-tailing.
Electronic retailing is the direct sale of products and sercices through electronic storefronts or electronic malls, usually designed around an electronic catalogue format.

2 major Inssues that can restrict their growth.
- Channel conflicts: clicks (onle portion of org) and mortar (tradition part of org, "bricks") companies may face a conflict with their regualr distributers when they sell dircetly to customers online. This can alientate the distributors. Channel conflict has forced some companies (Ford Moror Company: buy online but have to pick up car froma dealer) to avoid direct online sales. Also, logistics servuces provided by the offline activities to the online activities. E.g. how shouls a company handel returns of items brought online?
-Order Fulfillment: Any time a comoany sells directly to customers, it is involved in various order0fulfillment activities. It must performt he following activities.: quickly find the products to be shipped, pack them, speedy delivery, collect money (advance or by COD), handle return of unwanted of defective products. Difficult to accomplish both effectively and efficiently. Therefore, difficulties in supply chain.


2. What are spamming, permission marketing and viral marketing?
Spamming: is the indiscriminate distrubution of electronic ads without the permission of the reciever.
Permission Marketing: asks consumers to give their permission to voluntarily accept online advertising and email.
Virtual Marketring: refers to online "word of mouth" marketing. The idea behibnd thsi is to have people forward messages to friends.

6.4 Electronic Payments

1. List the various electronic payment mechanisms.
-Electronic checks
-Electronic credit Cards
-Purchasing cards
-Electronic Cash
-Digital Wallets

2. What are micropayments?
Small payments of a few dollars or less.

6.5 Ethical and LEgal Issues in E-Business

1. List some ethical issues in EC.
-Apply to E-business.
- By making it easier to store and transfer personal inforamtion, e-busienss presents some threats to privacy. Encryption provides protection.
-Another privacy issue tracking. Indiciduals activities on the Internet can be tracked by cookies. programs such as cookies raise privacy concerns. Tehy store your tracking history on your computers harddrive and anytime you revisit a a certain web site, the computer knows it.
-May elminate the need for some companys employees.

2. List the major legal issues of EC.
-Fraud on the Internet: could involve stock promotors falsely spreading positive rumors about the prospects of the companies they touted in order to boos the stock price.
-Domain Name: Competition over domain names. Domain names are assigned by central non-profit organisations that check for conflicts and possible infringement or trademarks.
-Cybersquatting: refers to the practice of registering or using domain names for the purpose of profitingh from the goodwill or trademark belongingt o someone else.

Rainer, R. & Turban, E. (2009). Introduction to Information Systems: Supporting and Transforming Business. 2 Ed. John Wiley & Sons

Chapter 5: Network Applications

5.1 Netwrork Applications

1. Describe the three network applications that we discussed in this section and the tools and technologies that support each one.
- Discovery. By browsing and searching data sources on the web, users can apply the Internets discovery capability to areas ranging from education to governemtn services to entertainment to commerce.
Eg. Search Engine
Publication of Material in Foreign Languages
Portals
- Communication. Many types of communication, including email, call centres, electonic chat rooms,and voice communication.
- Collaboration. An important feature of modern organisations is taht people collaborate to perform work. It is efforts by 2 or more entities.
E.g Workflow technologies, groupware.

2. What are the business conditions that are leading to the increased importance of videoconferencing?
The latst version of videoconfrencing, called telepresence, enables participants to sealessly share data, voice, pictures, graphics and animation by electronic means. Conferees can also transmit data along with voice and video, ehich allows themn to work on documents together and to exchange computer files.

5.2 Web 2.0

1. Describe the underlying technologies, applications and types of Web sites that comprise Web 2.0.
Web 2.0 is a loose collection of information technologies adn applications, and of the web sites taht use them. These web sites enrich the user experience by ensouraging user participation, social interaction, and collaboration.
-Ajax
- Tagging
- Blogs and Blogging
- Really Simple Syndication
- Podcasts and Videocasts
- Wikis

2. Describe the function of Web services.
Web services are applications, delivered over the internet, taht users can select and combine through almost any device, from personal computers to mobile phones. By using a aset standards, these applciuations permit differebnt systems to "talk" with one another - that is, to share data and service - eithout requiriung human beings to translate the conversations.

3. Describe the function of service-oriented architectures.
SOA is an IOT architecture that makes it possible to construt business applicarions using Web services. The Web services can be reused across an organisation in other applications. So, a Web service taht checks a consumer's credit could be used with a service that processes a mortgage application or a service taht processes a credit card application.

5.3 E-Learning & Distance Learning

1. What is the difference between e-learning and distance learning?
E-learning refers to learnign supported by the web. Distance Learning (DL) refers to any learnign situation in whichteachers and students do not meet face to face.

5.4 Telecommuting

1. What is telecommuting? A work arrangement whereby employees work at home, at the customer's premises, in special workplaces, or while traveling, usually using a computer linked to their place of employment.

2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting from the viewpoint of the employee? From the viewpoint of the organization? Employee Advantages: reduced stress and imroved family life. Empyment opportunities for household people such as single parents and persons with disabilities. Employee Disadvantages: increased feelings of isolation, possible loss of fringe beenfits, lower pay (in some cases), no workplace visibility, the potential for slower promotions, and lack of socialisation. Organisation Advantages: increased productivity, the ability to retain skilled employees andt he ability to attract employees who dont live within commuting distance. Organisation Disadvantages: difficulties in supervising work, potential data security problems and training costs.

Rainer, R. & Turban, E. (2009). Introduction to Information Systems: Supporting and Transforming Business. 2 Ed. John Wiley & Sons

Chapter 4: Data and Knowledge Management

1. What are some of the difficulties in managing data?
- The amount of data increases exponentially with time
-Data are scattered throughout orgabisations and are collected by many individuals using various methods and devices. Data are frequently stored in numerous servers and locations and in different computing systems, databases, formats and human and computer languages.
-Data decays overtime. E.g. customer smove, new producrs aredeveloped.
Data security, quality and integrity are critical, yet easily jeopardized.

2. What are the various sources for data?
-Internal Data
-External Data
-Personal Data


3. What is a primary key and a secondary key?
Primary Key: the identifier field or attribute that uniquely identifies a record. E.g. Customer ID Number.

Secondary Key: an identifier field or attribute that has some identifying information, but typically does not identify the file with complete accuracy. E.g. a students major, if a user wnted to find all students in a particular major field of study.

4. What is an entity and a relationship?
Entity-relationship (ER) diagram: Document that shows data entities and attributesn and relationships among them.

Entity-relationship (ER) modeling: the preocess of designmng a database by organisaing data entities to be used and identifying the relationships among them.

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of relational databases?
Advantages
- allow you to manage your data more efficently, avoid errors, and manipulate it easily.
-related tables can be joined when they contain common columns.
The uniqueness of the primary key tells the DBMS which records are joined with others in related tables. This feature allows users great flexibility in the variety of queries they can make.

Disadvantages
Because large-scale databases cn be composed of many interelated tabls, the overall design can be complex and therefore have slow search and access times.


6. What is knowledge management?
A process that helps organisations identify, select, organise, disseminate, transfer,a nd apply information and expertise that are part of the organisation's memory and taht typically reside within the organisation in an unstructured manner.

7. What is the difference between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge?
Tacit Knowledge: The cumulative store of subjective or experiential learning; highly personal and hard to formanlize knowledge.

Explicit Knowledge: The more objective, rational, and technical types of knowledge.

Technology Guide 5: Basics of the Internet and the World Wide Web

TG5.1: The Internet

1. Describe the various ways that you can connect to the Internet?
Connecting via an Online Service: Access the internet by opening an account with an Internet service provider. An Internet service provider (ISP) is a company that offers Internet connections for a fee. E.g. America Online, Juno and NetZero. Many telephone providers (Telstra, Optus) and cable companies sell Internet access, as do computer companies such as Microsoft.

Connecting Via Other Means: several attempts have been launched to make access to the internet cheaper, faster, and easier. E.g. terminals known as internet Kiosks have been located in public places such as libraries and airports (and even in conscience stores) for use by people who don’t have their own computers. Accessing the internet from mobile phones and pagers is common.

Internet connection Methods
· Dial-up: used where broadband is not available
· ISDN: more expensive than broadband connections
· DSL: Broadband access via telephone companies.
· Cable Modem: Access over your cable TV coaxial cable. Can have degraded performance if

many of your neighbors are accessing the internet at once.
· Satellite: Access where cable and DSL are not available.
· Wireless: Very convenient, and WiMax will increase the use of broadband wireless.
· Fiber to the Home (FTTH): Expensive and usually only places in new housing developments.

2. Describe the parts of an Internet address.

Each computer is assigned address, called the internet protocol (IP) address, that distinguishes it from all other components. The IP address consist of numbers, in four parts, separated by dots. E.g.135.62.128.97. You can access a Web site b typing this number in the address bar.
Most computers also have names, which are easier for people to remember than IP addresses. These are called the domain name systems (DNS). They consist of multiple parts, separated by dots, which are read from right to left. E.g. the domain name software.ibm.com. The right part of an internet name is its top-level domain (TLD). The letters “com” in software.ibm.com indicates that this is a commercial site. Popular TLDs are:

com commercial sites
edu educational site
mil military government sites
gov civilian government sites
org organisations

“ibm” is the name of the company (IBM) and “software” is the name of the particular machine (computer) within the company to which the message is being sent.

Section TG 5.2 – The World Wide Web

1. What are the roles of browsers?
Users access the web primarily trough software applications called browsers. Browsers provide a graphical font end that enables users to point-and-click their way across the web, a process called surfing. Web browsers became a means of universal access because they deliver the same interface on any operating system under which they run. Leading browsers include Internet Explorer from Microsoft and Safari from Apple.

2. Describe the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web?
World Wide Web (WWW): is a system of universally accepted standards for storing, retrieving and formatting and displaying information via client/server architecture; uses the transport functions of the internet. The web handles all types of digital information including text, sound and graphics.

Internet: is a global WAN that connects computer networks all over the world. The internet enables people to access data in other organisations and to communicate, collaborate and exchange information around the world, quickly and inexpensively.

Technology Guide 4: Telecommunications & Networks

TG 4.1: The Telecommunications Systems

1. Compare and contrast the three main wired communications channels?
Twisted-pair wire

Advantages
· Inexpensive
· Widely Available
· Easy to work with
· Unobtrusive
Disadvantages
· Slow (low bandwidth)
· Subject to Interference
· Easily Tapped (low security)


Coaxial Cable
Advantages
· Higher bandwidth than twisted-pair
· Less susceptible to electromagnetic interference
Disadvantages
· Relatively expensive and inflexible
· Easily tapped (low-to-medium security)
· Somewhat difficult to work with

Fiber-optic Cable
Advantages
· Very high bandwidth
· Relatively inexpensive
· Difficult to tap (good security)
Disadvantages
· Difficult to work with (difficult to splice)


2. Describe the various telecommunications technologies that enable users to send high-volume data over any type of network.
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN): is and older international telephone standard of network access that uses existing telephone lines and allows users to transfer voice, video, image, and dada simultaneously.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSLs): provide high0-peed, digital data transmission from homes and businesses over existing telephone lines. Because the existing lines are analog and the transmission is digital, you need DSL modems.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM): ATM networks permit almost unlimited bandwidth on demand. ATM offers several advantages: it makes possible large increases in bandwidth; and it provides support for data, video and voice transmissions on a single communications line. ATM currently requires fiber-optic cable, but it can transmit up to 2.5 gigabits per second. On the downside, ATN is more expensive than ISDN and DSL.
T-Carrier System: is a digital transmission system that defines circuits that operate at different rates, all of which are multiples of the basic 64Kbps used to transport a single voice call. These circuits include T1 (1.544Mpbs, equivalent to 24 channels); T2 (6.312 Mbps, equivalent to 96 channels); T3 (44.736 Mbps, equivalent to 672 channels); ad T4 (274.176 Mbps, equivalent to 4032 channels),




TG 4.2 – Types of Networks

1. What are the main business reasons for using networks?
· A company network connects computers via communications media so that data can be transmitted along them.
· Firstly, Network computer systems enable organisations to be more flexible so tah ttheycan adapt to rapidly changing business comditions
· Secondly, Networks enable companies to share hardware, computer applications, and data across across the organisation and among organisations.
· Thirdly, networks make it possible for geographically dispersed employees and workgroups to share documents, idfeas, and creative insights. This sharing encourages teanwork, innovation, and more efficient and effective interactions.

2. What is the difference between LANs and WANs?
Local Area Network (LANs): connects two or more devices in a limited geographical region, usually within the same building, so that every device on the network can communicate with every other device.

Wide Area Networks (WANs): are networks that cover large geographic areas and typically connect multiple LANs. WANs generally are provided by common carriers such as telephone companies a d the international networks of global communications services providers. WANs have large capacity, and they typically combine multiple channels (e.g. Fiber-optic cables, microwave, and satellite). The internet is a n example of a WAN.

TG 4.3 – Network Fundamentals

1. What is a network protocol?
Network Protocol: computing devices that are connected to the network access and share the network to transmit ad receive data. These components are often referred to as “nodes” of the network. They work together by adhering to a common set of rules that enable them to communicate with one another. This set of rules and procedures that govern transmission across a network is a protocol.

2. Describe the Ethernet and TCP/IP protocols.

Ethernet: A common LAN protocol. Most large corporations use gigabit Ethernet in which the network provides data transmission speeds of 1 billion bits per second. However, 10-gigabit Ethernet is becoming the standard (10 billion bits per second).

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP): is the protocol of the internet. A file transfer protocol that can send large files of information across sometimes unreliable networks with the assurance that the data will arrive uncorrupted.

The TCP perfomr s3 basic functions:

1. It manages the movement of packets between computers by establishing a connection between the computers.

2. It sequences the transfer of packets

3. It acknowledges the packet that have been transmitted .

The Internbet Protool is responsibnle for disassembling, delivering, and reassembling the data during transmission.

Rainer, R. & Turban, E. (2009). Introduction to Information Systems: Supporting and Transforming Business. 2 Ed. John Wiley & Sons