THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA
College Of Informatics and Virtual Education ASSIGNMENT NO.1
COURSE NAME: Information System management COURSE CODE: IS 240 COUSE INSTRUCTOR: S/n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Name MAKAME, MAKAME H TWALIB,MOHAMED A SEMKIWA,HARUNA MBEYELA, JOAN MWOMBEKI,JUDITH MAKOGA, BARAKA A EDWARD, YUSTO MICHAEL, DANIEL E MOSHA, BAZILI K NKANDI, SAMSON
Registration No. T/UDOM/2010/00410 T/UDOM/2010/00441 T/UDOM/2010/00437 T/UDOM/2010/00415 T/UDOM/2010/00428 T/UDOM/2010/00411 T/UDOM/2010/00392 T/UDOM/2010/00417 T/UDOM/2010/00422 T/UDOM/2010/00431
Program B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS B. Sc. CIS
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Q1. Identify problems, opportunities and challenges in IS management and make recommendations based on sound IS management theory and practice. Answer Issues in the management of relationships between IS professionals and business clients. Management of relationships between IS professionals and business clients can be achieved through the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Global IT teams include different IS professions from different places with different cultures. Cross-cultural and interpersonal communications are among the issues which harden the management of global IT teams. These problems can be solved through:
Team orientation Through team orientation members of global IT teams can share assumptions and think together to solve problems, also it will help them to know and understand each other’s traditions and cultures. In team orientation it where IS professionals from Global IT teams are prepared to adapt and understand business clients culture so as easy communication among them. Multicultural manager The team manager should be well culturally trained because he/she is the one who could organize and help the team members understand each other so as to achieve desired business objectives.
Q2. Identify problems, opportunities and challenges in IS management and make recommendations based on sound IS management theory and practice. Answer Problems in IS management
Cooperate culture It is difficult for the IS management team in an organization to have the same culture with their external and internal users of the IS. Problem would arise due to the user attitudes towards the IS that he/she directly interacts with. Feedback mechanisms Problem rises due the fact that there is no the well-defined mechanisms that will bring up feedback about the IS services that are offered to the users. There may be multiple mechanisms that will cause delay of the feedback from users. Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Organization directions Senior managers of IS management may make their own decisions without involving other members within the organization. These may lead on the misunderstandings between the members which may result into wrong organization directions.
Challenges in IS management
Knowledge The lack of knowledge from consultants within the IS management team may result to lack of confidence hence this will results to poor IS management. Lack of knowledge may result into Increase in Organizational Costs due to different trainings. Also lack of knowledge may result into different inefficiencies which may result to Management issues being poorly handled. Information Overload There is a lot of different Information from different departments in an Organization for them to be handled at the same time. Also Information may Vary in a wide range and in different formats, this will make the IS management team hard to handle them as well. Security Breaches. It is hard for the IS management Team to Control Information confidentiality through application of good access control. Since the information is shared among several users in the Organization it is hard for the IS management to handle the best mechanism for the information to be free from modification. “Security is not a goal, it is a Purpose”.
Opportunities in IS management.
Improve Quality of Services Well management of an IS will improve services offered to the customers due to good interactions between Users and IS management team. Also the presence of a good feedback from the customers will lead to the improved Standards and quality of services. Support Corporate Strategy. IS management is responsible to ensure there is a good Cooperation among the management team and users within the Organization and users outside the Organization. This will result into efficiency in Organization duties. Enhance worker Productivity. IS management will ensure the information is reliable, secured, available and compatible to the workers field. This will enhance productivity in working area.
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Capture Marketing Opportunities. IS management are responsible with tracking of orders by contracting with the customers for marketing, obtaining and recording sales data and also promoting of the business to the external environment of the Organization.
Q3. Identify the characteristics and elements underpinning business and IS/IT strategies. Answer The characteristics and elements underpinning business and IS /IT strategies
Market segmentation Almost every market has some major and distinctive segments. This is particularly true if the marketplace for your product or service is multi-regional or national. If this is the case, segmentation is almost necessary, especially for a small firm, if you hope to be competitive. Almost all markets are segmented by price and quality issues. Much stronger segmentation can usually be found through an evaluation of product or service uses and importance to various consumers.
Competitive analysis In this we need to do an in-depth analysis of the competitive advantages and weaknesses of our firm. When exploring weaknesses we should include information that will help end any concerns that may arise as to their ability to significantly hinder our success. This is important, especially if a company is a start-up, because it will, typically, be competing with established companies that have advantages such as financial strength, name recognition, and established distribution channels.
Positioning Positioning can be thought as a business strategy for a product or service. Positioning defines how the business is going to describe a product to a targeted marketplace. It will consist of those potential customers toward whom you will direct most of your marketing efforts.
Advertising and promotion It is used to provide an overview of the business general promotional plan. It gives a break-out of what methods and media that the business intend to use and why. If an advertising slogan or unique selling proposition have been developed it may be mentioned, but it isn’t strictly necessary. Tuesday, January 31, 2012
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Sales Sales strategy needs to be in agreement with the business strategy, marketing strategy, and business strengths and weaknesses. If a start-up business is planning on selling products to other businesses in a highly competitive marketplace, the market entry will be easier if the business rely on wholesalers or commissioned sales representatives who already have an established presence and reputation in the marketplace.
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People The focus here is key people and positions. Primary attention should be on key people who have already committed to joining the business or IS/IT. To elaborate on their relevant past experience and successes and explain what areas of responsibility in IS/IT and business that they will have in the new IS or business.
Q4. How can you apply analytical tools and techniques to align business and IS/IT strategies. Answer Analytical tools prefers to the tools(ways) that used to reviews the efficient of the business to their operations. While through applying the Analytical techniques as scientific procedure related to the Business. IT/IS Strategy Prefers the use Information technology or Information system effectively to achieve the goals in business in the short or long within the Organization. Mostly conducting through research on the business environment within which an organization operates and on the organization itself, in order to make strategy(planning). There are three basic aligning techniques that can be implemented in business and IS/IT strategies: 
Critical Success Factors
. A three-stage process that focuses on business aligning has such an impact on the success that its tracking, measurement, achievement, or avoidance, becomes critical to success. This is the one
which allow the managers to articulate their needs in terms of information that is absolutely critical to them. Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Value Chain Analysis Provides a check list that may be used to draw attention toward or away from individual issues whilst helping to identify courses of action available and the risks involved. model suggests activities that must be given attention in produce of the product or service. It provides an opportunity to question the organization’s approach to IS.
Driver analysis
This concern with the IS/IT management’s decisions in order to archives the goals of the Business, in order to improves the quality and service standards, expansions of the external market.
Q5. Identify challenges of IS careers in an Organization. Answer Challenges of IS careers in an Organization
Managing Information system infrastructure o Devising new ways to use hardware. This refers to innovation and application of computer technology and career path in this area can involve advanced graduate work followed by position in a research university or industrial research. o Designing and implementing Software. This refers to the work of software development including web development, interface design security issues and so on. o Planning and managing organization technology infrastructures. IS professional must have a knowledge on how to plan and manage organizational infrastructures in terms of its performance and efficiency without exceeding organization budget. Understanding business environment o Business competitions. IS profession should have an intuitive understanding of technological competition facing his/her organization and implement appropriate skills/techniques to lead the competition. o Evolving technologies. Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Since technology is dynamic, the Is profession should be updated with the rapid changing of technology so that he/she can be able to plan, implement and integrate new technology with the existing one. o Customer requirement. IS profession must have enough and appropriate knowledge on how to analyze and identify customer’s needs.
References 1.Porter, M. E. (1985) Competitive Advantage, The Free Press. 2.Bullen, C. V. and Rockart, J. F. (1981) A Primer on Critical Success Factors, Sloan School of Management, Management Information Technology, 69, June. 3.Robson, W. (1997) Strategic Management and Information Systems, 2nd ed., Pitman Publishing.
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