MIS352 Business Management Proof Reading Services

Discussion activity 1

Why information system does not only consist of hardware and software

The statement that the information system consist of hardware and software is considered inadequate due to the fact that the information system is also consist of other components including personnel, data, telecommunication as well as procedures along with the software engineering and hardware.

Definition of a problem and how a computer-based information system could solve it.

A problem is a situation that is unfriendly and needs to be attended to before it causes severe damage. Some of the business problems and how computer information system can solve them are as follows:

Company operation cost: by use of computer information system you can lower the cost of operation by concentrating redundant task in one location this is through offering customer email support at a price which is low and migrate most of the activity to an online environment.

External competitors: with IT you can create new products and again differentiate your product which is similar to that of your competitor.

Can an off-the-shelf computer program be used as a Strategic Information System?

The strategic information systems refer to the systems which are designed in response to business activities of an organization. An off-the-shelf computer program can be used as a Strategic Information System because when building a business, strategic information system will be needed (Sharif Razavian, Azizpour, Sullivan, and Carlsson, S., 2014, pp. 806-813). And one of them is off-the-shelf, this is because it can handle much documentation, off-the-shell can also update frequently, this means that it can adapt to changes in the business world since it receives frequent updates that cope with the latest trends in the business.

How a Strategic Information System offers a short-lived corporation advantages

A Strategic Information System reduces the cost of goods and services meaning customers will buy products from the company at a low price and after a period, the company will be making less profit hence increasing production cost later in the future compared to the profit currently produced (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2012, pp.42-53). It also creates a barrier for new entrants in the market, this is an advantage since it widens the market for the company, but again it will generate straining of the company when it tries to satisfy a more considerable demand with limited resources.

How giving out the Acrobat Reader and Flash Player helps Adobe strategically and how the generosity allows Adobe make money

Flash Player has been made free so that people can download it. Developers have paid a licence to the Adobe so that they publish the Flash Player in a flash; this is a method of product promotion (Horton, 2011, pp.1). Because many people use Flash Player, many developers also want to use it; hence the more valuable the product becomes. This is a strategy which makes the product dominant therefore; it develops monetary value. It is the developers who pay Adobe to allow them to make software development.

Discussion activity 2

Advantages of agile methods over waterfall development methods, such as the traditional SDLC and the risks involved

1. The benefits of agile methods include the following (Barlow et al. 2011, pp. 3-24):
2. Agile methods support changes; developers can access initial stages and make changes where necessary.
3. Fast Product delivery, developer finishes their work in time basically because you do not have too much coding and testing to do.
4. User-focused, feedback from customers at the end of each iterative sequence allows equal customer-participation in the outcome and design of the product.
5. Encourages team collaboration goal and objectives are aligned together this makes it easy for developers to work together
6. Increases productivity of product, at the end of iteration products, is tested to see if it has loopholes for improvement.

Some of the risks include the following:

1. They are unsupportive to the client's input; they don’t allow feedback freedom until the product is deployed.
2. They also lack reboot; any error of the entire product can be subject to threats.
3. The benefits and risks of outsourcing IT services

A benefits

1. They are cost efficient, this helps to control capital outlay especially in the early stages of operations (Goo, Kishore, Rao, and Nam, 2009, pp.119-145).
2. It provides the chance to focus on discovering new opportunities that may be relevant to the company when the company’s internal resources are freed.
3. They ease disaster recovery, since business data is an essential resource for the company.

Risks

1. IT is exposed to hackers who are after classified data. This may be a threat to confidential information of an organisation.
2. It also lacks personal touch in the sense that you become familiar with unique characteristics.
3. It can result in less productivity during downtime, especially during system failures which may require spending more time and resources to solve.
4. Should the development of Information Systems encourage users? Do the benefits of the practice outweigh its risks?
5. The information system should encourage users because it has more advantages compared to its risk. Using information system has become part of “basic wants”. By “basic wants”, I mean the following;
6. The information system has made communication efficient through instant messages; this is quicker and cheaper.
7. It has made it possible for globalisation to be efficient by making the world a “global village” through the internet.
8. The information system has made it possible for many businesses to operate 24/7 especially those businesses that operate online on the internet; this helps in the maximisation of profits through the maximum use of time.
9. A supply chain and Supply Chain Management Systems
10. A supply chain is a system used in an organisation involving moving of products and services from supplier to customers.
11. Supply chain management systems are systems explicitly designed to control all the operations involved in the distribution of goods and services to the intended consumers.

RFID and the roles it plays in the SCM

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) refers to reading and grab information stored on a tag attached to an object by use of radio waves. It allows management to maintain proper data of stock when it is flowing in the warehouse hence ensures efficient delivery. RFID also provides tracking of inventory this only requires transponder chips.

Discussion activity 3

Components needed for a device to be considered a computer

For a device to be deemed to be a computer, it must have all the essential parts of a computer which are; the central processor, main memory, a secondary memory, input device like the mouse and the keyboard, and output devices like the monitor.

Important features to consider before purchasing a personal computer

For one to buy a computer, it must qualify to serve the intended purpose efficiently. Before acquiring a PC it is important to consider some features. These features are: the central random access memory, processing unit, the removable media, permanent storage devices, and how mobile you want your computer the PC is, you should also consider whether to purchase a desktop or a computer.

Computer Network notations and their meanings

1. WAN (Wide Area Network): this is a computer network that extends over a large geographical area.

2. LAN (Local Area Network): this is a computer network in a small area like in a building.

3. MAN (Metropolitan Area Network): this is a computer network that connects computers in a wide geographical area for example in a city.

4. PAN (Personal Area Network): this refer to a computer network which is consist of interconnected devices cantered at the work place of an individual.

Technical advantages of optical fibers over other communications media

Optical fibres have exceptionally high bandwidths; they can transmit exceptionally a lot of data at an instant. Optical fibres can transfer data over long distances with minimal power loss (Gerstel, Jinno, Lord, and Yoo, 2012, pp.23).Optical fibres are also less prone to electromagnetic wave interference making them more efficient in data transmission. Optical fibres exhibit better data security since the signal cannot be tapped using any means.

Disadvantages of Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi networks are insecure because most methods of encryption have notable weaknesses that may lead to data insecurity. The network has a short range; therefore, it may be inefficient in a large building. This network is wireless consequently it is subject to a wide range of interferences that render it unreliable.

Discussion activity 4

Operations that can be done with database management systems that cannot be done with spreadsheet applications

In a database management system, it is easy to identify related data thanks to the use of the primary and secondary keys. In s spreadsheet, data is kept in unique formats therefore it may be challenging to identify related fields.

In a database management system, the user can define specific data types to be entered in specific fields to avoid confusion. This situation is opposite to the spreadsheets where any data type can be entered in any field.

Meaning of cleansing data before it is stored in a data warehouse

This is a process in which you detect and correct imprecisely and duplicate data in the database management system before saving it to the data warehouse.

The data warehouse and how it is different from a transactional database

“A data warehouse is a united source for all the data collected by an enterprise's various operational systems, be they physical or logical."

A transactional database does not lend itself analytical, unlike the data warehouse which is designed to handle analytical data because it has the online analytical processor.

Blogging and the potential it has for businesses

Blogging is the act of writing about an event, situation or a new product and exposing it to the public. Blogging works as a product promoter when it shows a positive image of a business to the public.

The intranet, extranet and the purposes they serve.

An intranet is a private network within an institution and is accessible by only the people within the organisation. It is used to share information and computing resources of the company among the employees and facilitate activities like teleconferencing.

An extranet is a private network that relies so much on the internet technology to safely share business data. It is used to connect authorised people working outside the company like suppliers to be able to access the information of the enterprise.

Discussion activity 5

ThResolution of the EU data protection conflicte Global Information System

The Global Information System refers to an information system developed to be used worldwide to facilitate delivery of totality of measurement data in a defined context.

Before data is provided elsewhere, the consent of the subject should always be informed. Data gathered should be protected with encryption technique to secure it from the unauthorised third party (Weiss, and Archick, 2016, pp.21). The subject party should still be able to freely access his or her data in case the need arises, or may want to change the data.

A model

1. A model is an idealised presentation of a real-life system (Klugman, Panjer, and Willmot, 2012, pp.12). Examples are:

2. Conceptual model: shows a significant connection in the real biosphere system and processes since it is a qualitative model.

3. Weather model: this is a type of model that explains the weather phenomena.

Sensitivity test

A sensitivity test is a study or an analysis of how uncertainty in the output of the mathematical system can be apportioned to different sources of change in the input e.g.

1. Medical sensitivity test used to detect ill patients who have certain conditions.

2. A business sensitivity test applies in decision making based on data collected.

3. How geographic information system can apply in the scheduling of classes

The GIS will always understand the nature of the location you are in, and this helps you to know when is best to move to class. For example; the GIS provides geographical information which can assist in locating classes.

ADVANCED FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING

Assessment task part A

Introduction

This section presents an analysis of “Enron case study” concerning Enron Corporation, a company that reached its peaks in terms of operations, only to experience a downfall. Its failure affected many of its employees and threatened Wall Street. Enron was declared bankrupt on December 2, 2001 (Healy, and Palepu, 2003, pp.72). Many people still wonder how such a big business could fall to such a level.

The market to market accounting approach and how it was misused in the Enron organization to portray a rosy picture of its performance/profitability?

The market-to-market accounting was a significant factor in Enron’s problems in “The Fall of Enron” case study. The market to market approach, also known as a fair value accounting apply to the accounting for fair value of an asset or liability in accordance with the current market price of the similar assets (Ball, Jayaraman, and Shivakumar, 2012, pp.17-21; Lourenço, Branco, Curto, and Eugénio, 2012, pp.417-428). Enron’s case scenario exemplifies the misuse of this critical aspect to portray a rosy picture of its profitability in the sense that Enron marked a wide variety of items to the market. For instance, in the contract signed by Enron to provide power out of the new power plant which was still under construction, all profit that is estimated to be made under the contract were recorded. This was attributed to the fact from the case study that Enron developed opaque numbers for the actual cost the power plant. To this effect, Enron appear be much more valuable than it was, in real sense.

The special purpose entities and how they were used by in Enron’s management to fund contracts.

Special purpose entities SPE is construed as a financial strategy where organizations reduce their risks by creating a separate partnership instead of the subsidiaries for certain holdings as well as solicits which are outside investors in order to take on the risk (Thiemann, 2012, pp.37-55). It has been used by various companies for isolating financial risks, lowering financial cost among other legitimate business purposes. The SPE was utilized in the Enron’s case study to access capital or hedge risk. As the financial dealing were becoming more complicated, Enron used the SPE to “park” the compromised items whose value were depreciating including the energy facilities among other assets in order to keep the losses off Enron’s book.

The main purpose of the stock options compensation scheme provided to top management in Enron’s case scenario

The widespread use of stock option has made it to become a major area of focus in various organization. There are significant amount of grants as well as the profits from stock options gained by the organization executives (Deutsch, Keil, and Laamanen, 2011, pp.212-227).

The stock options compensation scheme was formed to pay the executive a substantial one-time bonus because they had hit a series of stock-price target ending in 2000. It was also used to attract talented employees so that Enron's company could maximise on the revenue instead of operational expenses.

Assessment task part B

Examples of measurement methodologies from Microsoft Corporates annual report

This section focus on various measurement methodologies for the five elements of financial standards as defined in the International FRS conceptual framework. For this part, I chose Microsoft Corporation as the organization is one of the companies which utilizes the US GAAP (Bae, Tan, and Welker, 2008, pp.593-628). The organization use estimated cash flow methodology in measuring the fair value of each reporting unit (Microsoft, 2016). The following is the example quoted from the organization’s 2016 annual report.

“The fair value of each reporting unit is estimated primarily through the use of a discounted cash flow methodology” (Microsoft, 2016).

Besides the estimated cash flow methodology, the organization also uses quoted prices as a method for identical assets to work out the fair value of the organization’s financial instruments, this is evident in the following quote (Microsoft, 2016).

“…we use quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities to determine the fair value of our financial instruments. This pricing methodology applies to our Level 1 investments…”(Microsoft, 2016).

How the measurement method provided decision useful information

The approach has been used in measuring fair value of a reporting change from year to year according to the operating results and market condition among other useful factors (Microsoft, 2016). The accounting information at Microsoft has been made more useful in making decision through the measurement oriented approaches, especially the estimated cash flow approach (Gervásio, and Da Silva, 2012, pp.7121-7131). A decision-useful information is an information which can help its users in making decision as to whether the user should invest in or do a business with a given entity. It is a fundamental aspect of a framework in every organization; it is on basis of it that an organization or an individual develops financial reporting standards (Zarviana, Nur, and Indrawati, 2017, pp.25-39).

Analysis on the techniques Microsoft has used before and why the technique deployed would be more helpful than other methods

Some of the methods that have been used by the organization include straight-line method and active interest method. The former allocates the same amount of discount to each interest period while the latter allocates the discount over the bond term. In the straight-line methodology, the cost of leases get accelerated as the asset deprecats. The deployed method of cash flow, however, has been beneficial to the organization since it has been used to know the amount of cash received and spent over time by the company for the organization to plan effectively (Brigham, and Houston, 2012, pp.11).

Reference list

1. Bae, K.H., Tan, H. and Welker, M., 2008. International GAAP differences: The impact on foreign analysts. The Accounting Review, 83(3), pp.593-628.
2. Ball, R., Jayaraman, S. and Shivakumar, L., 2012. Mark-to-market accounting and information asymmetry in banks, pp.17-21.
3. Barlow, J.B., Giboney, J., Keith, M.J., Wilson, D., Schuetzler, R.M., Lowry, P.B. and Vance, A., 2011. Overview and guidance on agile development in large organizations, pp. 3-24.
4. Brigham, E.F. and Houston, J.F., 2012. Fundamentals of financial management. Cengage Learning, pp.111.
5. Deutsch, Y., Keil, T. and Laamanen, T., 2011. A dual agency view of board compensation: The joint effects of outside director and CEO stock options on firm risk. Strategic Management Journal, 32(2), pp.212-227.
6. Gerstel, O., Jinno, M., Lord, A. and Yoo, S.B., 2012. Elastic optical networking: A new dawn for the optical layer?. IEEE Communications Magazine, 50(2).
7. Gervásio, H. and Da Silva, L.S., 2012. A probabilistic decision-making approach for the sustainable assessment of infrastructures. Expert Systems with Applications, 39(8), pp.7121-7131.
8. Goo, J., Kishore, R., Rao, H.R. and Nam, K., 2009. The role of service level agreements in relational management of information technology outsourcing: an empirical study. MIS quarterly, pp.119-145.
9. Healy, P.M. and Palepu, K.G., 2003. The fall of Enron. Journal of economic perspectives, 17(2), pp.72.
10. Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D. and Hoskisson, R.E., 2012. Strategic management cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning, pp.42-53.
11. Horton, W., 2011. E-learning by design. John Wiley & Sons, pp.1.
12. Lourenço, I.C., Branco, M.C., Curto, J.D. and Eugénio, T., 2012. How does the market value corporate sustainability performance? Journal of business ethics, 108(4), pp.417-428.
13. Microsoft, 2016, Annual Report 2016. Available at: < https://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar16/index.html> [Accessed on 30^th September, 2018]
14. Sharif Razavian, A., Azizpour, H., Sullivan, J. and Carlsson, S., 2014. CNN features off-the-shelf: an astounding baseline for recognition. In Proceedings of the IEEE conference on computer network vision and pattern recognition workshops (pp. 806-813).
15. Thiemann, M., 2012. ‘Out of the shadows?’ Accounting for Special Purpose Entities in European banking systems. Competition & Change, 16(1), pp.37-55.
16. Weiss, M.A. and Archick, K., 2016. US-EU data privacy: from safe harbor to privacy shield, pp.21.
17. Zarviana, R., Nur, E. and Indrawati, N., 2017. Pengaruh IFR dan Mekanisme CG terhadap Nilai Perusahaan dengan Kualitas Laba sebagai Variabel Intervening. Sorot, 12(1), pp.25-39.