CIS500 Information System Decision Making (Discussion Questions) and Assignment Information is taken from Turban e & Voloninol (2011) Information Technology for management (8^th Ed).Hoboken NJ John Wiley and son.

Discussion Week 1

(E-Activity)Businesses have used barcodes to store product and price information on product tags readable via specialized scanners. Quick Response (QR) tags are the latest technology for storing and publishing product information readable using smartphones. There are no specialized scanners required to read QR codes. Visit the Website, located at http://www.qrstuff.com/, to generate a QR code. Follow these instructions and be prepared to discuss:

·          Under the Data Type column (column 1), click on the Email Address radio button.

·          Under the Content column (column 2), type your email address in the textbox.

·          Notice the generated QR code in the QR code Preview window.

·          Download the image to your local machine.

·          Repeat the exercise and generate the QR code for your telephone number.

 

(a).Examine Software as a Service (SaaS) and discuss the advantages and disadvantages it provides to e-Businesses.

 

From the e-Activity, compare the QR code you generated for your email address to the one you generated for your telephone number. Describe the similarities and differences between the two codes.

 

(b).Analyze how a change to an organization’s IT infrastructure could affect the entire organization’s business model. Give an example to illustrate this effect.

 

Propose a change that should be made by organizations to reduce the carbon and energy footprint in an effort to support green IT. Justify your response.

Discussion Week 2

(E-ACTIVITY)Research the Internet for an article that describes how an industry of your choice is using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Examine the uses, advantages, and disadvantages of RFID technology. Be prepared to discuss.

 

(a).from the e-Activity, assume that you are a CTO of a retail organization that has adopted the RFID technology. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages your organization could experience with this technology in relation to the organization’s supply chain and logistics.

 

Imagine the information system for Wal-Mart was suddenly nonexistent. Choose the data management system you would put back in operation first. Justify your response.

(b).Imagine you are starting a Web business and want to incorporate cloud technology. Describe how you would incorporate cloud technology into your business model. Justify your response.

 

Assume you are a CIO of a startup company. The company needs to implement an IT infrastructure. Describe the infrastructure and argue which of the four characteristics of an IT infrastructure (dependable, manageable, adaptable, and affordable) is the most important to consider when acquiring IT infrastructure support components. Support your response.

Discussion week 3

(a). Businesses are generating data, documents, and text in the form of emails in ever increasing rates. The volume of stored data is also increasing at alarming rates. Choose the one issue that you believe is the largest challenge to managing data, text, and documents. Support your response.   Employees are bringing smartphones to the workplace. Some employees are using the company networks to access the Internet. Some expect the company to provide this type of access. This presents a number of challenges to company network management. Identify three challenges and suggest strategies for a company to address these challenges.

 

(b).Modern networks have to support a number of digital data protocols as well as digital audio protocols. The ability to stream both data and audio has led to the design and deployment of advanced applications. Analyze how advancements in Web, wireless, and mobility technologies are impacting organizations. Choose one specific advancement and describe why it is having the biggest impact. Support your answer.

From the e-Activity, AT&T and Verizon both provide very similar if not the same services, especially in the mobile space. Consumers are left with challenges when making decisions on which vendor to choose. Compare both providers in regard to their wireless broadband networks. Indicate which vendor provides the best offering in your opinion and why.

 

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Assignment 1: Predictive Policing  Due Week 2 and worth 75 points The following resources may be helpful in completing this assignment:

• Goode, E. (2011, August 15). Sending the police before there’s a crime. Retrievable here.
• Pearsall, B. (2010, May). Predictive policing: The future of law enforcement? National Institute of Justice Journal, 266. Retrievable here.
• Predictive Policing Symposium (2010). Retrievable here. 
• Shurkin, J. N. (2011, September 13). Santa Cruz cops experiment with ‘predictive policing’. Retrievable here.
• Willis, J. J., Mastrofski, S. D., & Weisburd, D. (2003). Compstat in practice: An in-depth analysis of three cities. Police Foundation. Retrievable here.

In 1994, the New York City Police Department adopted a law enforcement crime fighting strategy known as COMPSTAT (COMPuter STATistics). COMPSTAT uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map the locations of where crimes occur, identify “ hotspots”, and map problem areas. COMPSTAT has amassed a wealth of historical crime data. Mathematicians have designed and developed algorithms that run against the historical data to predict future crimes for police departments. This is known as predictive policing. Predictive policing has led to a drop in burglaries, automobile thefts, and other crimes in some cities. Write a four  page paper in which you:

1. Compare and contrast the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus random patrols of the streets.
2. Describe how COMPSTAT, as an information system (IS), implements the four (4) basic IS functions:
   1. Input
   2. Processing
   3. Output
   4. Feedback
3. Determine how information systems have allowed police departments that implement tools such as COMPSTAT to respond to crime faster.
4. Apply the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis (SWOT analysis) on behalf of police departments that intend to implement predictive policing.
5. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources. You may use the resources above or others of your choosing.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Explain how the components of an information technology system interrelate in an organizational context.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in information systems and technology.
• Write clearly and concisely about topics related to information systems for decision making using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.