Network Applications, Web 2.0, Distance Learning and Telecommuting

If you got a working knowledge you will know what netowrk is and how you can access it. Generally, networks support businesses and organizations in all types of functions. these functions fall into the following major categories: discovery, communication, collaboration, and web services.

Discovery:allows users to browse and search data sources, in all topic areas,

on the Web. it's included in:

- Search engines are computer programs that search for specific information by key words and report the results.

- Metasearch engines search several engines at once and integrate the findings of the various search engines to answer queries posted by users.

Portal: a Web-based, personalized gateway to information and knowledge that provides relevant information from different IT systems and the Internet using advanced search and indexing techniques.

Types of portals:

- Commercial (public) portalsoffer content for diverse communities and are the most popular portals on the Internet.

- Affinity portals support communities such as a hobby group or a political party.

- Mobile portals are accessible from mobile devices.

- Corporate portals offer a personalized single point of access through a Web browser.

- Industrywide portals arefor entire industries.

Communication can be achived by:

- Electronic mail (e-mail) is the largest-volume application running on the Internet.

- Web-based call centers (customer call center) are services that provide effective personalize customer contact as an imporantpart of Web-based customer support.

- Electronic chat room is a virtual meeting place where groups of regulars come to “gab”.

Collaboration: refers to efforts of two or more entities (individuals, teams, groups,or organizations) who work together to accomplish certain tasks.

Work group: refers specifically to two or more individuals who act together to perform some task.

Virtual group (team) : is when group members are in different locations.

Web 2.0 is a loose collection of information technologies and applications, and the

Web sites that use them.

Web 2.0 Information Technologies and Applications:

- AJAX: A web development technique that allows portions of web pages to reload with fresh data instead of requiring the entire web page to reload

- Tagging: A tag is a keyword or term that describes a piece of information (e.g., blog, picture, article, video clip)

- Blogs and blogging: A blog is a personal web site, open to the public, in which the site creator expresses his or her feelings or opinions

- Wikis: A wiki is a web site on which anyone can post material and make changes to other material.

- Really Simple Syndication (RSS) : RSS allows users to receive, or customize the information they receive when they want it without having to surf thousands of web sites.

- Podcasts and Videocasts: A podcast is a digital audio file that is distributed over the web using RSS for playback on portable media players or personal computers. A videocast is the same as a podcast, only with digital media and audio content.

Social Networking Sites: Allow users to upload their content to the web in the form of text, voice, images, and video.

Aggregators: Provide a collection of content from the web (e.g., Technorati, Digg, Simple thred).

Mashups: A web site that takes content from a number of other web sites and mixes them together to create a new kind of content (e.g., SkiBonk, Healthmap, ChicagoCrime)

Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture:

nWeb services are applications delivered over the Internet that users can select and combine through almost any device, from personal computers to cell phones.

nA service-oriented architecture is an IT architecture that makes it possible to construct business applications using web services.

E-Learning and Distance Learning:

E-Learning refers to learning supported by the Web.

Distance learning (DL) refers to any learning situation in which teachers and students do not meet face-to-face.

Telecommuting: allows workers to work anytime any any place.

Telecommuting benefits:

nFor Employees

nReduced stress, improved family life

nEmployment opportunities for single parents and persons with disabilities

nFor Employers

nIncreased productivity

nAbility to retain skilled employees

Telecommuting disadvantages:

nFor Employees

nFeelings of isolation

nNo workplace visibility

nPotential for slower promotions

nFor Employers

nDifficulties in supervising work

nPotential information security problems

nAdditional training costs

Managing Data and Knowledge

It's known that IT applications require data. data should be of high quality, accurate, complete, timely, accessible, relevant, and concise. It's obviously, however, that the process of acquiring, keeping, and managing data is becoming increasingly difficult.

Difficulties in Managing Data:

- Amount of data increases exponentially.

- Data are scattered and collected by many individuals using various methods and devices.

- Data come from many sources.

- Data security, quality and integrity are critical.

Database Approach

Database management system (DBMS): provides all users with access to all the data.

DBMSs minimize the following problems:

- Data redundancy: The same data are stored in many places.

- Data isolation: Applications cannot access data associated with other applications.

- Data inconsistency: Various copies of the data do not agree.

DBMSs maximize the following issues:

- Data security: keeping the organization’s data safe from theft, modification,

and/or destruction.

- Data integrity: data must meet constraints (e.g., student grade point averages

cannot be negative).

- Data independence: applications and data are independent of one another.

Data Hierarchy:

- bit is a binary digit, or a “0” or a “1”.

- byte is eight bits and represents a single character (e.g., a letter, number or symbol).

- field is a group of logically related characters (e.g., a word, small group of words,

or identification number).

- record is a group of logically related fields (e.g., student in a university database).

- file is a group of logically related records.

- database is a group of logically related files.

Designing the Database:

Thedata model is a diagram that represents the entities in the database and their relationships.

Anentity is a person, place, thing, or event about which information is maintained.

A record generally describes an entity.

Anattribute is a particular characteristic or quality of a particular entity.

Theprimary key is a field that uniquely identifies a record.

Secondary keys are other field that have some identifying information but typically do not

identify the file with complete accuracy.

Entity-Relationship Modeling:

Database designers plan the database design in a process called entity-relationship (ER) modeling.

ER diagrams consists of entities, attributes and relationships.

Entity classes: groups of entities of a certain type.

Instance: the representation of a particular entity.

Identifiers: attributes that are unique to that entity instance.

Database Management System: set of programs that provide users with tools to add, delete, access, and analyze data stored in one location.

The relational database model is based on the concept of two-dimensional tables.

Structured query language (SQL): allows users to perform complicated searches by using relatively simple statements or keywords.

Query by example (QBE): allows users to fill out a grid or template to construct a sample or description of the data he or she wants.

Normalization: is a method for analyzing and reducing a relational database to its most streamlined form for:

- Minimum redundancy

- Maximum data integrity

- Best processing performance

Normalized data is when attributes in the table depend only on the primary key.

Types of Information Systems

Nowadays, organizations employ many different types of information systems. through this post, we well highlight the numerous and diverse the types of information systems.

Computer-Based Information Systems (CBIS): use computer technology to perform some or all of their tasks and are composed of:

1- Hardware: a device such as a processor, monitor, keyboard or printer.

2- Software: a program or collection of programs that enable hardware to process data.

3- A Database: a collection of related files or tables containing data.

4- A Network: a connecting system (wireline or wireless) that permits different computers to share resources.

5- Procedures: are the set of instructions about how to combine the above components in order to process information and generate the desired output.

6- People: are those individuals who use the hardware and software, interface with it, or uses its output.

Information Systems Inside Your Organization:

Information Technology Outside Your Organization:

Capabilities of Information Systems:

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Application Programs: An application program is a computer program designed to support a specific task, a business process or another application program.

Breadth of Support of Information Systems

Functional area information systems: support particular functional areas in an organization.

Enterprise resource planning systems: tightly integrate the functional area information systems via a common database.

Transaction processing systems: support the monitoring, collection, storage, and processing of data from the organization’s basic business transactions.

Inter-organizational information systems: connect two or more organizations. Examples are supply chain management systems and electronic commerce systems.

Information Systems Support for Organization Employees

Office automation systems: typically support the clerical staff, lower and middle managers, and knowledge workers. These people use OASs to development documents, schedule resources, and communicate.

Functional area information systems: summarize data and prepare reports, primarily for middle managers.

Business intelligence systems: provide computer-based support for complex, non-routine systems, primarily for middle managers and knowledge workers.

Expert systems: attempt to duplicate the work of human experts by applying reasoning capabilities, knowledge, and expertise within a specific domain.

Dashboards: support all managers by providing rapid access to timely information and direct access to structured information in the form of reports.

Competitive Advantage and Strategic Information Systems

Competitive Advantage: An advantage over competitors in some measure such as cost, quality, or speed, leads to control of a market and to larger-than average profits.

Strategic Information Systems(SIS): provide a competitive advantage by helping an organization to implement its strategic goals and to increase its performance and productivity.

Porter’s Competitive Forces Model: The best-known framework for analyzing competitiveness is Michael Porter’s competitive forces model (Porter, 1985).

nThreat of entry of new competitors is highwhen it is easy to enter a market and low when significant barriers to entry exist.

nA barrier to entry is a product or service feature that customers expect from organizations in a certain industry.

nThe bargaining power of suppliers is high when buyers have few choices and lowwhen buyers have many choices.

nThe bargaining power of buyers is high when buyers have many choices and lowwhen buyers have few choices.

nThe threat of substitute products or services is high when there are many substitutes for an organization’s products or services and low where there are few substitutes.

nTherivalry among firms in an industry is highwhen there is fierce competition and low when there is not.

Strategies for Competitive Advantage:

Cost Leadership: Produce products and/or services at the lowest cost in the industry.

Differentiation: Offer different products, services or product features.

Innovation: Introduce new products and services, add new features to existing products and services or develop new ways to produce them.

Operational Effectiveness: Improve the manner in which internal business processes are executed so that a firm performs similar activities better than its rivals.

Customer-orientation: Concentrate on making customers happy.

Why are Information Systems Important to Organizations & Society:

- IT will reduce the number of middle managers.

- IT will change the manager’s job.

- IT impacts employees at work.

- IT provides quality-of-life improvements.