Chapter 2 - Global e-Business and Collaboration

Chapter 2 – Global E-business and Collaboration

Being a digital company means more than just having the newest computers with all the latest bells and whistles. The digital company must connect each functional area and each management level to one another. Human Resources, Sales, Accounting, and Manufacturers must have access to appropriate information regardless of its origin. Information is the key to a digital company.

Business Processes that integrate functions throughout an organization assist with eliminating chaos. Processes can deliver the best product for the lowest cost and in the most efficient manner. The way a company organizes its workflows, the method it uses to accomplish tasks, and the way it coordinates its activities among employees, and customer, and suppliers determines its business processes.

Information systems can help organizations recognize processes that may need to be changed and automate some of those processes that are no longer needed. A successful organization will use an information system to determine which processes work well.

Management groups in organizations are served by four types of information systems. The transaction processing system (TPS) records the data from everyday operations throughout every division or department in the organization. Ex. How much sugar do we have for today’s production run?

The management information system (MIS) is used by managers throughout the organization to help them in directing, planning, coordinating, communicating, and decision making. The MIS will help answer structured questions: “How much more sugar must we purchase to increase production from 500 cakes to 700?

Decision-support systems (DSS) are used for complex questions that require internal and external data. Ex. “How does will a change in size of the packaging of the cake affect the other products we produce, not just in shipping, but on the display shelves at stores?

An executive support system (ESS) helps managers make strategic decisions affecting the entire company. External and Internal data is given to executives to help determine the best course of action in different situations. With an ESS, company executives make decision based on information, not opinion.

The key element for all these system is integration. The cake would not be a success if all systems did not work together to produce a coherent picture for all levels of management. If the information from the TPS did not feed in the MIS, which incorporated information to assist the DIS, which then worked with the ESS, then the cake would just be another dessert.