Module 1

1.1) What is MIS? Explain its relevance and significance in the organizational setup.
Management Information Systems (MIS) is the study of people, technology, organizations, and the
relationships among them. MIS professionals help firms realize maximum benefit from investment in
personnel, equipment, and business processes. MIS is a people-oriented field with an emphasis on service
through technology. Technology and the use of technology to improve people’s lives is also a part of the field
of MIS.

Businesses use information systems at all levels of operation to collect, process, and store data. Management
aggregates and disseminates this data in the form of information needed to carry out the daily operations of
business. Everyone who works in business, from someone who pays the bills to the person who makes
employment decisions, uses information systems. A car dealership could use a computer database to keep
track of which products sell best. A retail store might use a computer-based information system to sell
products over the Internet. In fact, many (if not most) businesses concentrate on the alignment of MIS with
business goals to achieve competitive advantage over other businesses.

An information system consists of all the hardware and software that a firm needs to use in order to achieve
its business objectives. This includes not only computer machines, storage devices, and handheld mobile
devices, but also software, such as the Windows or Linux operating systems, the Microsoft Office desktop
productivity suite, and the many thousands of computer programs that can be found in a typical large firm.
Three activities of information systems produce information organizations need
● Input: Captures raw data from the organization or external environment
● Processing: Converts raw data into meaningful form
● Output: Transfers processed information to people or activities that use it

For example, Disney World’s systems for controlling crowds

● Input : Data from airline bookings and hotel reservations, satellite weather data, historic attendance
data for the data being analyzed, and images of crowds from video cameras stationed at key locations
throughout the park.
● Processing : Calculate projected total attendance for a specific date as well as attendance figures and
wait times for each ride and restaurant at various times during the day, rides or attractions are too
overcrowded, which have spare capacity, and which can add capacity
● Output : Guests attending on a particular day or time period, the average wait time per ride, the average
number of restaurant and shop visits, the average number of rides guests squeezed into a single day’s
visit, and the average amount spent per customer during a specific time period

1.2) What is the difference between Information system and Information Technology

Information System Information Technology

It is a software used to organize and analyze data. It is a sub system of the Information system.

Its main purpose is to turn raw data into useful Its main purpose is to help people perform their work
information that in turn will provide useful properly and effectively and achieve their objective
information for making decisions within an within organization or business.
organization or business.

It mainly focuses on providing support to operations, It mainly focuses on improving productivity and
management, and decision-making. efficiency using technology.

It is generally composed of four components i.e., It is generally composed of three components i.e.,
task, people, structure, and technology. hardware, software. Networks and data.

It works as a bridge between technology and people. It helps people to utilize and make sense of that
system.
 It simply incorporates technology, people and It designs, implements, maintains and supports
processes involved with information. information or data within the information system.

1.3) What are the functions of management, organization, and technology? Explain in
brief.
Technology : Technology takes care of handling the technical aspects of the business. The technological
infrastructure and the technological hardware and software capabilities of the firm and their maintenance and
development come under the field of technology.
● Computer Hardware : Computer hardware is the physical equipment used for input, processing, and
output activities in an information system.
● Computer Software : Computer software consists of the detailed, preprogrammed instructions that
control and coordinate the computer hardware components in an information system
● Data management technology : Data management technology consists of the software governing the
organization of data on physical storage media.
● Networking and telecommunications technology : Networks, the Internet, intranets, and extranets,
World Wide Web
● IT infrastructure : It provides a platform that the system is built on
Management :
● Managers set organizational strategies for responding to business challenges
● In addition, managers must act creatively
● Creation of new products and services
● Occasionally re-creating the organization
● Information technology can play a powerful role in helping managers design and deliver new products
and services and redirect and redesign their organizations.
Organization : Organizations have a structure that is composed of different levels and specialties.
● Senior management
○ long-range strategic decisions about products and services
○ ensures the financial performance of the firm.
● Middle management : implements programs and plans of senior management
● Operational management : monitoring the daily operations
● Knowledge workers : such as engineers, scientists, or architects, design products or services and
create new knowledge for the firm
● Data workers : secretaries or clerks, assist with scheduling and communications at all levels of the
firm.
● Production or service workers : actually produce the product and deliver the service
● Separation of business functions
○ Sales and marketing
○ Human resources
○ Finance and accounting
○ Manufacturing and production
● Unique business processes
● Unique business culture
● Organizational policies

1.4) What is a business process? How is it integrated into MIS?

Business processes refer to the set of logically related tasks and behaviors that organizations develop over
time to produce specific business results and the unique manner in which these activities are organized and
coordinated. Developing a new product, generating and fulfilling an order, creating a marketing plan, and hiring
an employee are examples of business processes, and the ways organizations accomplish their business
processes can be a source of competitive strength.

How is it integrated in MIS is remaining Amogh Joshi

1.5) What is the decision making hierarchy in the organization?
Decision making is a fundamental function of management. It is the basic activity of the management. It
reflects the success and failure of the management and the organization which mainly hinges upon the quality
of decisions. The decision making role of the management is the ‘heart’ of the executive activities in the
organization.
Organizations are faced with thousands of decisions daily, and how they make these decisions have an
enormous impact on their performance level. These decisions set the tone for the entire organization in terms
of image, profits and customer service. That is why it is very important that organizations adopt best practices
and execute good judgment when it comes to making decisions. It is necessary since the right decision at the
right time can help organizations achieve great success whereas a wrong decision can end up costing them
dearly.
A typical organization consists of three levels namely
● Operational - Handled by regular workers or operational management, these are the decisions which
usually are the easiest and least risky ones to make. A few wrong decisions will not lead to major
organizational failure or losses, and thus not much time is taken in coming up to these decisions.
Further, in many cases, defined procedures and defined guides are available and used to help in the
decision making process.
● Tactical - Handled by the Middle Management, these decisions are taken by middle managers, who
oversee the regular operation positions. These relate to how the company behaves internally, and how
a company handles and manages its departmental finances and departmental decisions. They can
also be very important decisions which cause a large amount of losses if taken wrongly, but will not
affect the way the entire company operates.
● Strategic - Handled by the Strategic or Senior Management (Also called Company Executives), who are
members of the Board, and will make all the final decisions in relating to all issues faced by the
company/organization. These decisions will set the tone for how the company operates at the highest
level, and one wrong decision can result in a huge amount of loss. In most cases, there is no
‘procedure’ to follow while taking these decisions and there are no guides available.

Each of these three levels has its own decision makers and its associated cost of decisions. The operational
level includes thousands of employees, who make around 2 million operational decisions per annum, each
valued at USD 250. The tactical level comprises hundreds of middle level managers, who make around 200
tactical decisions per annum, each valued at USD one million. The strategic level contains tens of senior
management personnel, who make around 20 strategic decisions per annum, each valued at USD 10 million.
This brings the total financial impact of decisions to plus / minus 900 millions of USD annually. Fig 3 shows
the financial impact of decisions taken at different organizational levels.
1.6) What are the types of MIS? Explain with examples.
● Transaction Processing System:
○ Operational managers need systems that keep track of the elementary activities and
transactions of the organization, such as sales, receipts, cash deposits, payroll, credit decisions,
and the flow of materials in a factory is provided by a Transaction processing systems (TPS)
type of information system. Its purpose is to :
■ Answer routine questions and track the flow of transactions through the organization
■ Allow managers to monitor the status of operations and relations with the external
environment
■ Serve predefined, structured goals and decision making
● Management Information System:
○ It serves middle management.
○ It provides reports on the firm's current performance based on data from TPS.
○ It provides answers to routine questions with predefined procedures for answering them.
○ They use simple routines such as summaries and comparisons. They have little analytic
capability.
○ For instance, MIS reports might list the total pounds of lettuce used this quarter by a fast-food
chain.
● Decision support systems:
○ It serves middle management.
○ It supports non-routine decision-making.
○ It may use external information such as stock prices or competitors' product prices as well as
TPS / MIS data.
○ Example:
■ Intrawest’s marketing analysis systems
■ Collects and stores large amounts of customer data from its Web site, call center,
lodging reservations, ski schools, and ski equipment rental stores
■ Uses special software to analyze these data: to determine the value revenue potential
the loyalty of each customer so managers can make better decisions on how to target
their marketing program
● Executive Support Systems:
○ It supports senior management.
○ It addresses nonroutine decisions which require judgment, evaluation, and insight.
○ It incorporates data about external events such as new tax laws, etc as well as summarized
information from internal MIS and DSS.
○ Example : Digital dashboard with a real-time view of the firm’s financial performance.

1.7) What is a "digital firm"? What are the challenges faced by digital firms?
● A digital firm is one in which nearly all of the organization’s significant business relationships with
customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled and mediated.
● Digital firms sense and respond to their environments far more rapidly than traditional firms, giving
them more flexibility to survive in turbulent times.
● Digital firms offer extraordinary opportunities for more global organization and management.
● By digitally enabling and streamlining their work, digital firms have the potential to achieve
unprecedented levels of profitability and competitiveness.
challenges remaining Amogh Joshi

1.8) What are the internal and external factors that affect the functioning of the
organization, Explain with a suitable diagram
1. External: The Economy
 In a bad economy, even a well-run business may not be able to survive. If customers lose their jobs or
take jobs that can barely support them, they'll spend less on sports, recreation, gifts, luxury goods and
new cars. High interest rates on credit cards can discourage customers from spending. One can't
control the economy, but understanding it can help one spot threats and opportunities.
2. External: Competition from other Businesses
Unless your company is unique, you'll have to deal with competition. When you start your company, you
fight against established, more experienced businesses in the same industry. After you establish
yourself, you'll eventually have to face newer firms that try to slice away your customers. Competition
can make or break you look at how many brick-and-mortar bookstores crashed and burned competing
with Amazon.
3. External: Politics and Government Policy
Changes in government policy can have a huge effect on your business. The tobacco industry is a
classic example. Since the 1950s, cigarette companies have been required to place warning labels on
their products, and they lost the right to advertise on television. Smokers have fewer and fewer places
they can smoke legally.
4. External: Customers and Suppliers
Next to your employees, your customers and suppliers may be the most important people you deal
with. Suppliers have a huge impact on your costs. The clout of any given supplier depends on scarcity:
If you can't buy anywhere else, your negotiating room is limited. The power of your customers depends
on how fierce the competition for their dollars is, how good your products are, and whether your
advertising makes customers want to buy from you, among other things.

1. Internal: Employees and Managers

Unless you're a one-person show, your employees are a major part of your company's internal
environment. Your employees have to be good at their jobs, whether it's writing code or selling products
to strangers. Managers have to be good at handling lower-level employees and overseeing other parts
of the internal environment. Even if everyone is capable and talented, internal politics and conflicts can
wreck a good company.
2. Internal: Money and Resources
Even in a great economy, lack of money can determine whether your company survives or dies. When
your cash resources are too limited, it affects the number of people you can hire, the quality of your
equipment, and the amount of advertising you can buy. If you're flush with cash, you have a lot more
flexibility to grow and expand your business or endure an economic downturn.
3. Internal: Company Culture
Your internal culture consists of the values, attitudes and priorities that your employees live by. A
cutthroat culture where every employee competes with one another creates a different environment
from a company that emphasizes collaboration and teamwork. Typically, company culture flows from
the top down. Your staff will infer your values based on the type of people you hire, fire and promote.
Let them see the values you want your culture to embody.
Module 2

2.1) How can MIS improve the efficiency and profitability of the organization?
A MIS provides background, current data and trend analysis so you have ready information on all areas of the
business. You can use this detailed data on the company environment and finances to improve business
performance in the long- and short-term.

Managing Business Data

Business owners and managers need to be informed about the overall operation of a company and key areas
of responsibility. If the president calls and wants to know how much sales have increased in each of the last
four years, the sales manager must provide the information. Management information systems give you
access to key data about your department and about the company in general. If the manager needs reference
information for a bid or for regulatory purposes, management information systems are a good source.

Informing Business Decisions

Decisions are only as valid as the information on which they are based. Management information systems
improve your decision-making, because they provide information that is accurate, timely, relevant and
complete. Self-checking and cross-checking features in management information systems reduce errors, and
IT professionals design the systems to offer a complete picture of a situation or highlight that specific
information is missing. Companies that use management information systems ensure that all managers work
from the same set of data and make their decisions based on identical information.

Analyzing Business Trends

A key part of management's responsibilities is preparing forecasts for strategic planning and budgets.
Management information systems contain past data for fundamental company functions such as sales,
production and customer service. They include information on revenue, expenses and investments, broken
down into separate components. You can search for trends by asking the systems to project past performance
patterns into the future. Management information systems have sophisticated mathematical analysis tools
that can evaluate relationships and calculate probable future trends. You can base accurate forecasts on such
information.

Examining Strategy and Scenarios

Sometimes, the information and trends display an evolving situation that the company wants to change.
Management information systems can evaluate different possibilities and allow you to examine scenarios.
What-if scenarios are a powerful tool that help you decide on the best strategy for the company. Management
information systems calculate what happens based on their collection of data on how the company operations
performed in the past. You can see what happens if the promotional budgets increase or staff levels are
reduced. With this knowledge, you can develop the optimal strategy for the company.

2.2) What are decision support systems and executive support systems?
(SAME as 1.6)
● Decision support systems:
○ It serves middle management.
○ It supports non-routine decision-making.
○ It may use external information such as stock prices or competitors' product prices as well as
TPS / MIS data.
○ Example:
■ Intrawest’s marketing analysis systems
■ Collects and stores large amounts of customer data from its Web site, call center,
lodging reservations, ski schools, and ski equipment rental stores
■ Uses special software to analyze these data: to determine the value revenue potential
the loyalty of each customer so managers can make better decisions on how to target
their marketing program
 ● Executive Support Systems:
○ It supports senior management.
○ It addresses nonroutine decisions which require judgment, evaluation, and insight.
○ It incorporates data about external events such as new tax laws, etc as well as summarized
information from internal MIS and DSS.
○ Example : Digital dashboard with a real-time view of the firm’s financial performance.

2.3) Explain concept of Big data with its characteristics

● The term ‘Big Data’ means huge volume, high velocity, and a variety of data. We all are surrounded by
huge data.
● People upload/download videos, audio, and images from a variety of devices.
● Sending text messages, multimedia messages, updating their Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter status,
comments, online shopping, online advertising, etc. generates huge data.
● As a result, multiple processing machines have to generate and keep huge amounts of data too.
● Due to this exponential growth of data, Data analysis becomes a required task for the day to day
operations.

● Volume: Amount of data generated during big data applications. Example: In the year 2016, the
estimated global mobile traffic was 6.2 Exabytes(6.2 billion GB) per month.
● Velocity: The massive continuous flow of data that requires faster processing speeds and high
processing power. Example: There are more than 3.5 billion searches per day on Google.
● Variety: Arrival of data from new sources inside and outside an enterprise which can be structured,
semi-structured, or unstructured.
○ Structured: Organized Data having definite length and form.
○ Unstructured: Does not have a definite length and form and is not organized.
○ Semi-Structured: It is the combination of both where some aspects can be organized but some
cannot be.
● Veracity: Inconsistencies and uncertainty in data where the quality of the data is hard to control. A bulk
of data creates confusion whereas less could convey half/incomplete data.
● Value: The value that the data can provide and what the organizations can do with it. Being able to pull
value from the data is a requirement.

2.4) How digital firms sustain the competition and survive?

2.5) What are important components of MIS? How does it help in Decision making?
A management information system is made up of five major components namely people, business processes,
data, hardware, and software. All of these components must work together to achieve business objects.
● People: These are the users who use the information system to record the day to day business
transactions. The users are usually qualified professionals such as accountants, human resource
managers, etc. The ICT department usually has the support staff who ensure that the system is running
properly.
● Business Procedures: These are agreed upon best practices that guide the users and all other
components on how to work efficiently. Business procedures are developed by the people i.e. users,
consultants, etc.
● Data: The recorded day to day business transactions. For a bank, data is collected from activities such
as deposits, withdrawals, etc.
● Hardware: Hardware is made up of the computers, printers, networking devices, etc. The hardware
provides the computing power for processing data. It also provides networking and printing
capabilities. The hardware speeds up the processing of data into information.
 ● Software: These are programs that run on the hardware. The software is broken down into two major
categories namely system software and applications software. System software refers to the operating
system i.e. Windows, Mac OS, and Ubuntu, etc. Applications software refers to specialized software for
accomplishing business tasks such as a Payroll program, banking system, point of sale system, etc.

● A management information system provides higher availability of data, thereby reducing uncertainty
and allowing managers to make better ratio quality decisions based on insightful data.
● In addition, when a Management Information System is used to analyze a situation, it provides all the
necessary information about that situation and then expects you to make the decision.
● It also offers some form of recommendations that give insight into the decisions to take.

2.6) What are the challenges in designing a MIS?

● Requirement of a skilled staff
○ In order to keep Management Information Systems working in the best way, business
organizations require professionals who are not only adept in the field of business but also have
a good technical know-how.
○ This is because business professionals can make most of the MIS only if they are aware of its
technicalities.
○ Further, it is not at all an easy task for organizations to find such skilled professionals.
○ Thus, the requirement of a skilled staff is one of the biggest challenges presented by a
Management Information System.

● Finding and withholding talented professionals

○ Finding talented professionals is certainly one big challenge but an even bigger one is to retain
the same talent.
○ This is because the advancements in business technology occur at a very high pace.
○ This results in development of new opportunities for the IT professionals.
○ These luring opportunities often distract the talent to shift from one management firm to
another.
○ Thus, it is challenging for most organizations to find and withhold MIS specialists who can
manage their Management Information Systems properly.

● Matching strides with the ever changing world of business technology

○ As discussed above, advancements in business technology occur at a very high pace.
○ Further, in order to stay ahead in the highly competitive environment of the business sector,
business organizations have to regularly adopt these advancements.
○ This implies that they have to make continuous transitions from their current Management
Information System to either its upgraded version or some other MIS which is superior to it.
○ As this transition takes place, business organizations have to put extra efforts into helping their
employees adapt to the respective changes, which isn’t an easy task.
○ In fact, it is sometimes really frustrating for the employees to reprogram their mind according to
the latest advancements in the management information system.
○ Thus, to sum up, it is challenging for business organizations to match strides with the ever
changing world of business technology.

● Development and implementation of the right strategy

○ Right data plays a pivotal role in organizational success and Management Information Systems
help organizations collect it through their network.
○ But, it is often not easy to handle the massive amount of data collected and interpret it properly.
○ This makes it difficult for management to utilize the data to develop and implement the right
strategies which can support the organization’s growth.
 ○ Thus, business organizations have to put a lot of effort into the perfect interpretation of the
data, which is quite a challenging task.

2.7) How is DBMS better than the traditional database management systems?
● Redundancy problem can be solved
○ In the File System, duplicate data is created in many places because all the programs have their
own files which create data redundancy resulting in wastage of memory. In DBMS, all the files
are integrated in a single database. So there is no chance of duplicate data.
○ For example: A student record in a library or examination can contain duplicate values, but when
they are converted into a single database, all the duplicate values are removed.

● Has a very high security level

○ Data security level is high by protecting your precious data from unauthorized access. Only
authorized users should have the grant to access the database with the help of credentials.

● Presence of Data Integrity

○ Data integrity makes unification of so many files into a single file. DBMS allows data integrity
which makes it easy to decrease data duplicity Data integration and reduces redundancy as well
as data inconsistency.

● Support multiple users

○ DBMS allows multiple users to access the same database at a time without any conflicts.

● Enforcement of standards
○ As DBMS have central control of the database. So, a DBA can ensure that all the applications
follow some standards such as format of data, document standards etc. These standards help
in data migrations or in interchanging the data.

● Provide backup of data

○ Data loss is a big problem for all the organizations. In the file system users have to back up the
files in regular intervals which lead to waste of time and resources.

2.8) What is Normalization with respect to DBMS?

Normalization is the process of minimizing redundancy from a relation or set of relations. Redundancy in
relation may cause insertion, deletion, and update anomalies. So, it helps to minimize the redundancy in
relations. Normal forms are used to eliminate or reduce redundancy in database tables.
First Normal Form: If a relation contains composite or multi-valued attribute, it violates first normal form or a
relation is in first normal form if it does not contain any composite or multi-valued attribute. A relation is in first
normal form if every attribute in that relation is a single valued attribute.
Second Normal Form: To be in second normal form, a relation must be in first normal form and relation must
not contain any partial dependency. A relation is in 2NF if it has No Partial Dependency, i.e., no non-prime
attribute (attributes which are not part of any candidate key) is dependent on any proper subset of any
candidate key of the table.
Third Normal Form:
A relation is in third normal form, if there is no transitive dependency for non-prime attributes as well as it is in
second normal form. A relation is in 3NF if at least one of the following condition holds in every non-trivial
functional dependency X –> Y
● X is a super key.
● Y is a prime attribute (each element of Y is part of some candidate key).
Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF): A relation R is in BCNF if R is in Third Normal Form and for every FD, LHS is
super key. A relation is in BCNF off in every non-trivial functional dependency X –> Y, X is a super key.
2.9) What are the different software platforms and programming languages used for
DBMS?
Oracle sql, mysql, postgre sql, nosql(types), for structured db we use SQL, To interact with nosql we can use
various programming languages
Amogh Joshi

2.10) How is the quality of data ensured in an organization?

● The first aspect of improving the quality of data is monitoring and cleansing data. This verifies data
against standard statistical measures, validates data against matching descriptions, and uncovers
relationships. This also checks the uniqueness of data and analyzes the data for its reusability.

● The second one is managing metadata centrally. Multiple people gather and clean data very often and
they may work in different countries or offices. Therefore, you require clear policies on how data is
gathered and managed as people in different parts of a company may misinterpret certain data terms
and concepts. Centralized management of metadata is the solution to this problem as it reduces
inconsistent interpretations and helps in establishing corporate standards.

● The next one is to ensure all the requirements are available and offer documentation for data
processors and data providers. You have to format the specifications and offer a data dictionary and
also provide training for the providers of data and all other new staff. Make sure you offer immediate
help for all the data providers.

● Very often, data is gathered from different sources and may include distinct spelling options. Hence,
segmentation, scoring, smart lists, and many others are impacted by this. So, for entering a data point,
a singular approach is essential, and data normalization provides this approach. The goal of this
approach is to eliminate redundancy in data. Its advantages include easier object-to-data mapping and
increased consistency.

● The last aspect is to verify whether the data is consistent with the data rules and business goals, and
this has to be done at regular intervals. You have to communicate the current status and data quality
metrics to every stakeholder regularly to ensure the maintenance of data quality discipline across the
organization.

2.11) Compare the DBMS and RDBMS wrt. Business organizations with proper
examples

DBMS RDBMS

DBMS stores data as a file. RDBMS stores data in tabular form.

Data elements need to be accessed individually. Multiple data elements can be accessed at the same
time.

No relationship between data. Data is stored in the form of tables which are related
to each other.

Normalization is not present. Normalization is present.

DBMS does not support distributed databases. RDBMS supports distributed databases.

It deals with a small quantity of data. It deals with large amounts of data.

Data redundancy is common in this model. Keys and indexes do not allow Data redundancy.
It supports single users. It supports multiple users.

Data fetching is slower for the large amount of data. Data fetching is fast because of the relational
approach.

The data in a DBMS is subject to low security levels There exists multiple levels of data security in a
RDBMS.

2.12) What is Data Warehouse and Data Mart? Differentiate between the two.

Data Warehouse Data Mart

Data warehouse is a centralized system. Data mart is a decentralized system.

In data warehouses, lightly denormalization takes While in Data mart, highly denormalization takes
place. place.

Data warehouse is a top-down model. Data mart is a bottom-up model.

To build a warehouse is difficult Building a mart is easy.

In the data warehouse, Fact constellation schema is While in this, Star schema and snowflake schema are
used. used.

Data Warehouse is flexible. Data mart is not flexible.

Data Warehouses have a long life. Data-mart has a shorter life than a warehouse.

In the Data Warehouse, Data is contained in a In data mart are contained in summarized form.
detailed form.

The Data Warehouse is vast in size. The data mart is smaller than the warehouse.

Long time for processing the data because of large Less time for processing the data because of
data. handling only a small amount of data.

2.13) What is ERP? How does it help in improving the functioning of the organization?
● Enterprise resource planning (ERP) refers to a type of software that organizations use to manage
day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk
management and compliance, and supply chain operations.
● A complete ERP suite also includes enterprise performance management, software that helps plan,
budget, predict, and report on an organization’s financial results.
● ERP systems tie together a multitude of business processes and enable the flow of data between
them. By collecting an organization’s shared transactional data from multiple sources, ERP systems
eliminate data duplication and provide data integrity with a single source of truth.

● Make your business more agile:

○ In a rapidly evolving business climate, being able to respond to change is essential. A good ERP
system is flexible, modular and scalable enough to adapt to shifting market dynamics and
changing customer needs. You can initially implement specific applications that make sense
now and add on seamlessly integrated applications as needed as your business grows.
● Drastically increase efficiency and productivity:
○ Inefficient spreadsheets, manual workflows and outdated software can inhibit your business
growth. An ERP system can streamline your entire organization and put your data all in one
place, enabling more accurate reporting and a more efficient, collaboration-based and
 data-driven work environment.
● Save on unnecessary costs:
○ Running your business with an ERP system creates efficiencies that make your business leaner
as it grows. Many businesses report that they are able to expand without adding additional staff
or IT costs. The cost of implementing an ERP system is easily eclipsed by the ROI of a more
efficient, fully optimized business environment.
● Improve security and accessibility:
○ You can reduce your risk and hardware costs by moving your ERP to the cloud. Embrace the
future of information systems with a modern ERP hosted in a secure cloud. Moving your ERP
applications to the cloud allows you to scale, extend and upgrade quickly. It also increases
visibility and accessibility even further, taking full advantage of an ERP system’s capabilities.
● Gain a professional partner:
○ When you upgrade to an ERP system, you also gain the partnership of your ERP implementation
provider and all the support – from implementation and training to software support to
community membership – that they have to offer. Some ERP systems have dedicated user
groups and communities that open up entire networks of industry innovators and dynamic
brands.
● Grow your business:
○ An ERP system can eliminate inefficiencies, wasted time and wasted resources, empowering
your business to thrive and flourish. If you’ve been burdened by an inability to keep up with
demand because you’re limited by conventional systems or stagnant legacy ERP systems,
upgrading to a modern ERP system frees your business to realize its true growth potential.
Module 3

3.1) What is Ethics with respect to business and organization?

Definition:
● Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that individuals use to make choices that guide their
behavior.
● Deciding what is right or wrong is not always easy or clear-cut.
● Fortunately, there are many frameworks that can help us make ethical decisions.
In corporate environment:
● A code of ethics is a collection of principles intended to guide decision making by members of the
organization.
● An individual might be expected to conform to multiple codes.
● For example, a person who is a member of two large professional computing-related organizations may
be simultaneously required by one organization to comply with all applicable laws and by the other
organization to refuse to obey unjust laws.
● Fundamental tenets of ethics include responsibility, accountability, and liability:
○ Responsibility means that you accept the consequences of your decisions and actions.
○ Accountability refers to determining who is responsible for actions that were taken.
○ Liability is a legal concept that gives individuals the right to recover the damages done to them
by other individuals, organizations, or systems.
● It is critical to realize that what is unethical is not necessarily illegal.
● For example, a bank’s decision to foreclose on a home can be technically legal, but it can raise many
ethical questions

3.2) What is Responsibility, Accountability and Liability with respect to ethics?

Fundamental tenets of ethics include responsibility, accountability, and liability:
● Responsibility means that you accept the consequences of your decisions and actions.
● Accountability refers to determining who is responsible for actions that were taken.
● Liability is a legal concept that gives individuals the right to recover the damages done to them by other
individuals, organizations, or systems.

3.3) What are the issues and Dilemmas associated with ethics?
● Advancements in information technologies have generated a new set of ethical problems.
● Computing processing power doubles roughly every 18 months, due to which organizations are more
dependent on their information systems.
● Organizations can store increasing amounts of data at decreasing costs due to which they maintain
more data on individuals for longer periods of time
● These developments have created numerous ethical problems concerning the appropriate collection
and use of
○ customer information
○ personal privacy
○ protection of intellectual property.
● All employees have a responsibility to encourage ethical uses of information and information
technology.
● Many of the business decisions you will face at work will have an ethical dimension.
● Consider the following decisions that you might have to make:
○ Should organizations monitor employees’ Web surfing and e-mail?
○ Should organizations sell customer information to other companies?
○ Should organizations audit employees’ computers for unauthorized software or illegally
downloaded music or video files?
3.4) How to analyze an ethical issue?

3.5) Explain with a suitable diagram the effect of Ethical issues on organization, social
and political set up?
Ethical, social, and political issues are closely linked. Introduction of new technology has a ripple effect in the
current equilibrium, creating new ethical, social, and political issues that must be dealt with on individual,
social, and political levels. Both social and political institutions require time before developing new behaviors,
rules, and laws.

The introduction of new information technology has a ripple effect, raising new ethical, social, and political
issues that must be dealt with on the individual, social, and political levels. These issues have five moral
dimensions: information rights and obligations, property rights and obligations, system quality, quality of life,
and accountability and control.

There are five main moral dimensions that tie together ethical, social, and political issues in an information
society. These moral dimensions are:
● Information rights and obligations
● Property rights and obligations
● Accountability and control
● System quality
● Quality of life
Four key technology trends have heightened the ethical stresses on existing social arrangements and laws:
● Advancements in information technologies have generated a new set of ethical problems.
● Computing processing power doubles roughly every 18 months, due to which organizations are more
dependent on their information systems.
● Organizations can store increasing amounts of data at decreasing costs due to which they maintain
more data on individuals for longer periods of time

3.6) What is the government role in ethics implementation?

Government ethics applies to the processes, behavior, and policy of governments and the public officials who
serve in elected or appointed positions. The role of government and its officials is to serve the public interest
with ethical awareness and ethical actions. When governments serve the public interest and avoid engaging in
behavior that promotes any private interests, they are acting for the common good.

3.7) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the internet explosion on MIS?

3.8) What are the ways we can protect privacy and security of Data?
Physical Controls:
● Physical controls prevent unauthorized individuals from gaining access to a company’s facilities.
● Common physical controls include walls, doors, fencing, gates, locks, badges, guards, and alarm
systems.
● More sophisticated physical controls include pressure sensors, temperature sensors, and motion
 detectors.
● One shortcoming of physical controls is that they can be inconvenient to employees.
Access controls:
● Access controls restrict unauthorized individuals from using information resources.
● These controls involve two major functions: authentication and authorization.
○ Authentication confirms the identity of the person requiring access. After the person is
authenticated (identified), the next step is authorization.
Ex: Biometrics, voice signature recognition, passwords, multifactor authentication etc.
○ Authorization determines which actions, rights, or privileges the person has, based on his or her
verified identity. Let’s examine these functions more closely.
Ex: privilege
Communication Controls:
● Communications controls (also called network controls) secure the movement of data across
networks.
● Communications controls consist of firewalls, anti-malware systems, whitelisting and blacklisting,
encryption, virtual private networks (VPNs), transport layer security, and employee monitoring systems.
● Firewalls: A firewall is a system that prevents a specific type of information from moving between
untrusted networks, such as the Internet, and private networks, such as your company’s network. Put
simply, firewalls prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks
● Anti-malware Systems: Anti-malware systems, also called antivirus, or AV, software, are software
packages that attempt to identify and eliminate viruses and worms, and other malicious software
● Whitelisting and Blacklisting:
○ Whitelisting is a process in which a company identifies the software that it will allow to run on
its computers it either prevents any other software from running or lets new software run only in
a quarantined environment until the company can verify its validity
○ Blacklisting allows everything to run unless it is on the blacklist. A blacklist, then, includes
certain types of software that are not allowed to run in the company environment.
● Encryption: Encryption is the process of converting an original message into a form that cannot be read
by anyone except the intended receiver
● Virtual Private Networking: A virtual private network is a private network that uses a public network
(usually the Internet) to connect users.
○ VPNs essentially integrate the global connectivity of the
● Internet with the security of a private network and thereby extend the reach of the organization’s
networks.
● Transport Layer Security: Transport layer security, formerly called secure socket layer, is an encryption
standard used for secure transactions such as credit card purchases and online banking.
○ TLS encrypts and decrypts data between a Web server and a browser end to end.
● Employee Monitoring Systems: Employee monitoring systems, which scrutinize their employees’
computers, e-mail activities, and Internet surfing activities.

3.9) Analyze the issues with Cookies, Web bugs and web spy software
● Alien software is clandestine software that is installed on your computer through duplicitous methods.
● It is typically not as malicious as viruses, worms, or Trojan horses, but it does use up valuable system
resources.
● In addition, it can enable other parties to track your Web surfing habits and other personal behaviors
● The vast majority of pestware is adware—software that causes pop-up advertisements to appear on
your screen. Adware is common because it works.
● According to advertising agencies, for every 100 people who close a pop-up ad, 3 click on it. This “hit
rate” is extremely high for Internet advertising
● Spyware is software that collects personal information about users without their consent. Two
common types of spyware are keystroke loggers and screen scrapers.
● Spamware is pestware that uses your computer as a launch pad for spammers. Spam is an unsolicited
e-mail, usually advertising for products and services
● Cookies are small amounts of information that Web sites store on your computer, temporarily or more
or less permanently
3.10) Evaluate the effect of social media and the internet on raising new ethical
issues?

3.11) What are the advanced network security aspects of MIS?

Module 4

4.1) How does the IT infrastructure connect the Firm and its Business capabilities?
Draw a suitable diagram.

IT Infrastructure is the set of physical devices and software required to operate an enterprise. It’s a set of
firm-wide services including
● Computing Platforms providing computing services
● Physical facilities management services
● IT management, education, and other services

A firm’s IT infrastructure provides the foundation for serving customers, working with vendors, and managing
internal firm business processes. In this sense, IT infrastructure defines the capabilities of the firm today and in
the near term of, say, three to five years (the length of time it takes to make a significant change in the firm’s IT
infrastructure).

4.2) How has the IT infrastructure changed with the evolution of computer
technology?
The IT infrastructure in organizations today is an outgrowth of over 50 years of evolution in computing
platforms. The five stages are -

● General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer computing (1959 to Present)

● Personal computers (1981 to present)
● Client/server networks (1983 to present)
● Enterprise and Internet computing. (1992 to present)
● Cloud and mobile computing (2000 to present)

4.3) What are the components of computer infrastructure?

● Computer Hardware Platforms:
○ Client machines
■ Desktops, laptops
 ■ Mobiles, smartphones, tablets
○ Servers (reliably and securely handle vast volumes of transactions, analyze vast quantities of
data, and handle large workloads)
○ Mainframes - IBM mainframe, A digital workhorse for banking and telecommunications
networks(running software programs that are older and require a specific hardware platform)
● Operating System Platforms:
○ Corporate servers such as Windows Server, Unix, Linux, etc.
○ Client-level OS, eg. Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, Windows 10 (mobile/multitouch), Google’s
Chrome OS (cloud computing)
● Enterprise Software Applications:
○ Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software
used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users.
○ Examples include Human Resource Management Systems, Payroll Management Systems,
Customer Support and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Email Systems.
○ Largest providers: SAP and Oracle
○ Middleware providers: IBM, Oracle
● Data Management and Storage:
○ Enterprise database management software is responsible for organizing and managing the
firm’s data so that it can be efficiently accessed and used.
○ Physical data storage for large-scale systems is provided by EMC Corporation. Similarly, some
database software providers are -
■ IBM (DB2)
■ Oracle
■ Microsoft (SQL Server)
■ Sybase (Adaptive Server Enterprise),
■ MySQL
■ Apache Hadoop
● Networking/Telecommunications Platforms:
○ Consists of Network operating systems such as Windows Server, Linux, and Unix. Also has -
○ Network hardware providers such as Cisco, Juniper Networks
○ Telecommunication services such as Telecommunications, cable, and telephone companies
charge for voice lines and Internet access, with AT&T, and Verizon is the dominant provider.
● Internet Platforms:
○ Provide hardware, software, and management services to support the company websites,
intranets
○ Web-hosting services - the service maintains a large web server or series of servers and
provides fee-paying subscribers with space to maintain their websites.
○ Routers
○ Cabling or wireless equipment
○ Internet hardware server market
■ IBM, Dell, Oracle, HP
○ Web development tools/suites
■ Microsoft (Visual Studio and .NET), Oracle-Sun (Java), Adobe
● Consulting and System Integration Services:
○ Even large firms do not have resources for the full range of support for new, complex
infrastructure
○ Leading consulting firms: Accenture, IBM Global Services, HP, Infosys, Wipro Technologies
○ Software integration: Ensuring new infrastructure works with the firm’s older, so-called legacy
systems
○ Legacy systems: Older TPS created for mainframes that would be too costly to replace or
redesign
4.4) What are important computer software platforms used in IT infrastructure?
There are four major themes in contemporary software platform evolution:
● Linux and Open-source software
● Open-source software is software produced by a community of several hundred thousand
programmers around the world
● Examples: Apache web server, Mozilla Firefox browser, OpenOffice
● Although Linux is not used in many desktop systems, it is a leading operating system for servers,
mainframe computers, and supercomputers. IBM, HP, Intel, Dell, and Oracle have made Linux a central
part of their offerings to corporations.
Java, HTML, and HTML5
● Java Virtual Machine (interprets Java programming code)
● Web browsers (software tools with a graphical user interface for displaying web pages and for
accessing the web and other Internet resources)
● HTML and HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a page description language for specifying
how text, graphics, video, and sound are placed on a webpage and for creating dynamic links to other
webpages and objects)
Web services and service-oriented architecture
● Web services (set of loosely coupled software components that exchange information with each other
using universal web communication standards and languages.)
● XML: Extensible Markup Language(perform presentation, communication, and storage of data)
● SOA: service-oriented architecture - A set of self-contained services that communicate with one
another to create a working software application. Software developers reuse these services in other
combinations to assemble other applications as needed
Software outsourcing and cloud services
● Software packages and enterprise software: prewritten commercially available set of software
programs that eliminates the need for a firm to write its software programs for certain functions, such
as payroll processing or order handling
● Software outsourcing: Software outsourcing enables a firm to contract custom software development
or maintenance of existing legacy programs to outside firms, which often operate offshore in low-wage
areas of the world
● Cloud-based software services and tools
● Service Level Agreements (SLAs): formal agreements with service providers.

4.5) What do you mean by PAAS, SAAS, IASS?

● Infrastructure as a service (IaaS):
○ Customers use processing, storage, networking, and other computing resources from cloud
service providers to run their information systems.
○ For example, Amazon uses the spare capacity of its IT infrastructure to provide a broadly based
cloud environment selling IT infrastructure services. These include its Simple Storage Service
(S3) for storing customers’ data and its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service for running their
applications.
○ Users pay only for the amount of computing and storage capacity they use.
● Software as a service (SaaS):
○ Customers use software hosted by the vendor on the vendor’s cloud infrastructure and
delivered as a service over a network.
○ Leading software as a service (SaaS) examples are Google Suite of Apps, which provides
common business applications online, and Salesforce. com, which leases customer
relationship management and related software services over the Internet.
○ Both charge users an annual subscription fee
● Platform as a service (PaaS):
○ Customers use infrastructure and programming tools supported by the cloud service provider to
develop their applications.
 ○ For example, IBM offers a Bluemix service for software development and testing on the IBM
cloud.
○ Another example is Salesforce.com, which allows developers to build applications that are
hosted on its servers as a service.
○ Allows companies to minimize IT investments
○ Drawbacks: Concerns about security and reliability

4.6) Describe different network/ telecommunication and internet platforms?

The different types of Network and telecommunication platforms are -

● Network operating systems - eg. Windows Server, Linux, Unix

● Network hardware providers - eg. Cisco, Juniper Networks
● Telecommunication services - Telecommunications, cable, telephone company charges for voice lines
and Internet access. eg AT&T, Verizon
● Internet platforms - Hardware, software, and management services to support company websites,
intranets
● - Web-hosting services - A web hosting service maintains a large web server, or series of servers, and
provides fee-paying subscribers with space to maintain their websites.
● - Routers
● - Cabling or wireless equipment
● Internet hardware server market - Providers are IBM, Dell, Oracle, HP
● Web development tools/suites - Microsoft (Visual Studio and .NET), Oracle-Sun (Java), Adobe, etc.

4.7) Explain the significance of IT in the organizations.

The following are some of the benefits that can be attained using MIS:

● Improve an organization's operational efficiency, add value to existing products, engender innovation
and new product development, and help managers make better decisions.
● Companies can identify their strengths and weaknesses due to the presence of revenue reports,
employee performance records, etc. Identifying these aspects can help a company improve its
business processes and operations.
● The availability of customer data and feedback can help the company to align its business processes
according to the needs of its customers. The effective management of customer data can help the
company to perform direct marketing and promotion activities.
● MIS can help a company gain a competitive advantage.
● MIS reports can help with decision-making as well as reduce downtime for actionable items.

4.8) How seamless IT infrastructure is influenced by AJAX, WEB 2 and Web based
applications? Give examples.

4.9) What are the challenges faced when the organizational IT infrastructure is
upgraded?
Creating and managing a coherent IT infrastructure raises multiple challenges:
● Dealing with platform and technology change - As firms shrink or grow, IT needs to be flexible and
scalable. Scalability means the ability to expand to serve a larger number of users. For mobile
computing and cloud computing, which are new fields, new policies and procedures for managing
these new platforms need to be put in place. Contractual agreements with firms running clouds and
distributing software are required
 ● Management and governance - Who controls IT infrastructure? How should the IT department be
organized? Should it be centralized, where it makes all the decisions? Or Decentralized, where business
units and IT departments make their own decisions. How are costs allocated between divisions and
departments? Each organization will need to arrive at answers to these questions based on its own
needs.
● Making wise infrastructure investments - Under-investment and over-investment can hamper firm
performance. Thus, firms need to decide between Rent-versus-buy. Cloud computing can also be
utilized to minimize costs, but the Security requirements and Impact on business processes and
workflow need to be considered. Another option is Outsourcing
These are the challenges faced by most organizations when upgrading their systems and their IT
infrastructure.

4.10) What is the difference between wired and wireless Networks? Explain with
proper diagrams and examples.

(a) Wired Network: As we all know, “wired” refers to any physical medium made up of cables. Copper wire,
twisted pair, or fiber optic cables are all options. A wired network employs wires to link devices to the Internet
or another network, such as laptops or desktop PCs.
(b) Wireless Network: “Wireless” means without wire, media that is made up of electromagnetic waves (EM
Waves) or infrared waves. Antennas or sensors will be present on all wireless devices. Cellular phones,
wireless sensors, TV remotes, satellite disc receivers, and laptops with WLAN cards are all examples of
wireless devices. For data or voice communication, a wireless network uses radiofrequency waves rather than
wires.

4.11) What are the components of the World Wide Web? Explain in detail.
Components of the Web: There are 3 components of the web:

Uniform Resource Locator (URL): serves as a system for resources on the web. The directory path and
document name are two more pieces of information within the web address that help the browser track down
the requested page. Together, the address is called a uniform resource locator (URL). When typed into a
browser, a URL tells the browser software exactly where to look for the information. For example, in the URL
http://www.megacorp.com/content/features/082610.

HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP): specifies communication of browser and server. Web pages are
accessible through the Internet because web browser software operating your computer can request web
pages stored on an Internet host server by using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is the
communications standard that transfers pages on the web. For example, when you type a web address in your
browser, such as http://www.sec.gov, your browser sends an HTTP request to the sec.gov server requesting
the home page of sec.gov.

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML): defines the structure, organization and content of a webpage. Web
pages are based on a standard Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which formats documents and
incorporates dynamic links to other documents and pictures stored in the same or remote computers.

4.12) What are major networking topologies used in wired networks?

Each computer on the network is connected to the other computers with cable (or some other medium, such
as wireless using radio frequency signals). The physical arrangement of the cables connecting computers on a
network is called the network topology.

The three basic topologies used in computer networks have been as follows:

● Bus—Connects each computer on a network directly to the next computer in a linear fashion. The
network connection starts at the server and ends at the last computer in the network. (Obsolete.)

● Star—Connects each computer on the network to a central access point.

● Ring—Connects each computer to the others in a loop or ring. (Obsolete.)

4.13) Draw the block diagram showing the relation between MIS and IT infrastructure
Module 5

5.1) What is E-commerce? How has it improved the business and customer
satisfaction?
● Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling
of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these
transactions.
● Ecommerce is often used to refer to the sale of physical products online, but it can also describe any
kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet.

● Choose From Wide Range of Goods

○ E-commerce allows customers to choose a product or service they want, from any supplier,
anywhere in the world. You have a much wider choice than in brick-and-mortar stores. And the
freedom to browse without any stress or hurry is priceless.
● Enjoy Simplicity and Comfort
○ E-commerce is convenient for buying goods or services without creating physical limitations. It
requires just a few clicks from the comfort of your home to gain the merchandise.
● Save Money
○ Products offered over the Internet are generally cheaper than those in the shops.
● Save Time
○ Customers can order anything you need online, even groceries to cook. E-shops are open
24/7/365, so you can shop at any time.
● Get Detailed Information
○ The Internet is used as the main tool for making e-commerce transactions. It allows customers
to search for product information, compare prices and benefits and ultimately evaluate whether
it is really worth the money.

5.2) What do you mean by B2B and B2C in business?

● B2B is a very common type of business and is very common within companies.
● Businesses sell products and offer services that specifically meet the needs of particular customers
who are other businesses and not individuals.
● A company operating in B2B will be harder to set up than a B2C company because the contracts are
generally for higher amounts . Companies must trust each other and have long-term partnerships .
● In supply chains , this type of business is very common. Companies buy raw materials from other
companies to use in their manufacturing process.
● For example office computers or furniture.

● B2C is the most frequent type of business and is very common for all people
● Companies sell products and offer services that specifically meet the needs of the population, which
are individuals and not companies.
● A business operating in B2C can quickly sell products and services and sales can range from very low
value to extremely expensive.
● An individual can purchase a product or service from a business once and never have any dealings with
it again.
● For example, food products that you can find in supermarkets or products that you can find on the
FNAC or Amazon sites.

5.3) What would be the website fields and contents of an outlet in the Technical
components business. Design the front end fields for the same.
5.4) Draw the components of CRM wrt. Sales, Service and Products.
● Help sales staff increase productivity by focusing sales efforts on the most profitable customers, those
who are good candidates for sales and services.
● Sales prospect and contact information
● Product information, product configuration capabilities
● Sales quote generation capabilities
● Assemble particular customer’s past purchases to help the salesperson makes personalized
recommendations
● Provide capabilities for sales forecasting, territory management, and team selling
● Assigning and managing customer service requests
● Improved access to consistent and accurate customer information helps call centers to handle more
calls per day and decrease the duration of each call.
○ call centers and customer service achieve greater productivity, reduced transaction time, and
higher quality of service at a lower cost
● Web-based self-service capabilities
○ set up to provide inquiring customers with personalized support information
● Support direct-marketing campaigns
○ Capturing prospect and customer data
○ scheduling and tracking direct-marketing mailings or e-mail
● Tools for analyzing
○ marketing and customer data
○ identifying profitable and unprofitable customers,
○ designing products and services to satisfy specific customer needs
● Cross-selling

5.5) What is the mobile E business? What are its advantages?

M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld
devices such as smartphones and tablets. M-commerce is a form of e-commerce that enables users to access
online shopping platforms without the use of a desktop computer. Types
● Mobile shopping - eg Amazon
● Mobile Banking - eg YONO SBI
● Mobile Payments - eg GPay
Advantages -
● Mobility - access from anywhere
● Security - more secure than credit cards
● Location Tracking - can be tracked easily if lost
Reachability and Convenience - can be accessed anytime and conveniently
In 2017, m-commerce constituted about 37% of all e-commerce transactions, with about $170billion in annual
revenue generated by retail goods and services, apps, advertising, music, videos, ringtones, movies, television,
and location based services. However, M-commerce is the fastest growing form of e-commerce, expanding at
a rate of 50% or more per year, and is estimated to grow at $300 billion by 2020.

5.6) What are the decision support systems used for E-commerce other than CRM.
Explain in brief.

5.7) What are different departments in an Organization or industry?Design a TPS for

the HR Department
5.8) What is decision making Hierarchy in the organization?

5.9) Explain different trends in hardware and software platforms.

5.10) Difference between web 2.0 and 3.0 wrt to example

Web 2.0 Web 3.0

Centralized Application delivery, cloud services and Decentralized Edge computing, peer-to-peer and
platform are governed and operated by centralized distributed consensus increasingly become norm
authorities

Flat currency Payments and transactions occur Cryptocurrency Transactions can be funded with
with government-issued currency, such as $USD. encrypted digital currencies, such as Bitcoin and
Ethereum

Cookies The use of cookies helps to track users NFTS Users can get unique tokens that are
and provide personalization assigned value or provide some form of perk

CSS and Ajax Web 2.0 is defined by layout Al Smarter, autonomous technology, including
technologies that provide more dynamic control machine learning and Al, will define Web 3.0
than Web 1.0

Relational databases Databases underpin the Blockchain Web 3.0 makes use of blockchain
content and applications of Web 2.0 immutable ledger technology

Social networks Web 2.0 ushered in the era of Metaverse worlds With Web 3.0, metaverse
social networking, including Facebook. worlds will emerge to meld physical, virtual and
augmented reality

5.11) List the advantages of E business

● Faster buying process
○ Customers can spend less time shopping for what they want.
○ They can easily browse through many items at a time and buy what they like.
○ When online, customers can find items that are available in physical stores far away from them or not
found in their locality.
○ Advantages of e-business include helping one to choose from a wide range of products and get the
order delivered too.
○ Searching for an item, seeing the description, adding to cart – all steps happen in no time at all.
○ In the end, the buyer is happy because he has the item and doesn't have to travel far.
● Store and product listing creation
○ A product listing is what the customer sees when they search for an item. This is one advantage in
e-commerce meant for the seller.
○ This online business plus point is that you can personalize your product listing after creating them.
○ Sellers can add many images, a description, product category, price, shipping fee and delivery date.
○ So, in just one step you can tell the customer many things about the item.
○ Creating your listing shows the buyers what you have.
○ Rules for product listing
■ Use high quality resolution images. Blurry images distract and confuse customers.
 ■ Maintain image dimensions. Usually ecommerce marketplaces will recommend a resolution
format.
■ Provide multiple product views. Some sites even let you include a 360-degree view of items.
■ When adding product variants – such as lipsticks in different shades – ensure each variant has
its specific image.
○ An online marketplace gives you space to describe the product – just once and interested people will
read it.
○ One can include even more information like reviews, demo videos, offers ready and expected delivery
timing.
● Cost reduction
○ One of the biggest advantages of ecommerce to businesses that keep sellers interested in online
selling is cost reduction.
○ Many sellers have to pay lots to maintain their physical store.
○ They may need to pay extra up front costs like rent, repairs, store design, inventory etc. In many cases,
even after investing in services, stock, maintenance and workforce, sellers don’t receive desired
profits and ROI.
○ With an ecommerce store, a seller can reduce how much is spent in store upkeep.
○ An ecommerce store is affordable and requires less investment when compared with a physical store.
○ This is also a good opportunity for individual and small scale sellers who want to earn an income but
don’t have the required start-up capital.
● Affordable advertising and marketing
○ The world of ecommerce has several affordable, quick ways to market online.
○ Ecommerce marketplaces are visual channels – and sellers can really show off their product.
○ One can add life to plain, boring text using DIY features to create customized deals, coupons, A+
content and sponsored ads.
○ Many ecommerce marketplaces offer customer insight tools that can be used to analyze customers.
○ Usually, this is a page that shows all orders – pending, unshipped, sent, canceled, returns.
● Flexibility for customers
○ An important advantage of ecommerce to business is that sellers can provide flexibility to customers.
○ One highlight is that the product and services are ready 24x7.
○ The result is that the seller can offer his item any place, any time.
○ Customers are always present on an ecommerce marketplace - They are likely to return for repeat
purchases online because of the conveniences they get.
○ These conveniences include free shipping (usually on a minimum cart value), express order delivery,
deals and discounts, subscription advantages.
○ They also share reviews on the things they buy.
○ Good reviews result in two extra benefits of ecommerce.
○ One is that buyers gain trust in your store based on the number of positive reviews.
○ The other is that it can help you identify your best-selling items.
○ Sellers can leverage this customer flexibility to build their revenue.
○ They can sell on an online marketplace confidently knowing that there are plenty of buyers.
● Product and price comparison
○ In ecommerce, sellers can compare the products using tools or on their own.
○ This gives them a good idea of product alternatives available, the standard rates, if a product need is
unfulfilled.
○ This is one more benefit for the customer too.
○ When people see many items ready for purchase, they feel more confident about spending.
● No reach limitations
○ A seller with a physical store may only be able to reach a certain number of buyers.
○ They can deliver to the customers’ homes but there can be distance limitations.
○ Several e-commerce marketplaces have their own logistics and delivery system.
● Faster response to buyer/market demands
 Every interaction is faster when you begin selling online.
○
Ecommerce marketplaces offer you a streamlined logistics or delivery system.
○
What this means is that the buyer's order gets delivered efficiently.
○
Product returns management is one more plus point that can be handled quickly – you either refund
○
the payments or give a replacement.
○ Speedily actions can even be applied when responding to market demands.
○ Merchants can create deals, promotions quickly too.
○ This attracts customers and increases chances of creating more sales.
○ Ecommerce sellers may plan and apply coupons when they like – even customize such offers for their
own store.
● Several payment modes
○ Buyers like personalisation – the same goes for paying for their orders.
○ Ecommerce marketplaces permit multiple payment modes that include UPI, cash on delivery, card on
delivery, net banking, EMIs on credit or debit card and pay-later credit facility.
○ Customers can only use one type of payment mode per order.
○ This choice is affected by the order value, ease of payment or availability of cash or card.
○ In some cases, payment modes can be merged with a dedicated wallet amount.
○ What this means for sellers is that they no longer have to lose a potential sale opportunity due to lack
of available payment modes.
● Cart recovery
○ This is one huge benefit for ecommerce.
○ Sometimes a buyer reaches the checkout page but doesn’t complete the purchase.
○ Here, you can notify customers via phone messages, email to finish buying.
● Enables easy exports
○ E-commerce exports assists sellers to directly sell to international customers in global marketplaces,
allowing them to transcend beyond national boundaries and expand abroad.
○ With e-commerce, sellers don’t have to invest in a physical setup to reach customers.
○ Instead, they can use attractive product listings and acquire new customers internationally with ease.
○ For aspiring entrepreneurs and growing businesses, e-commerce exports can be a very profitable
model to adapt for global expansion and increased revenue.

5.12) How e-business scenario has evolved since 2000 explain with example

5.13) Compare the E business requirements of a Medium sized Business with a

Conglomerate MNC with respect to design of the portal, CRM and ERP.

Module 6

6.1) What is CRM? What are the components of CRM?(check the latter part)
● CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management” and is a software system that helps business
owners easily track all communications and nurture relationships with their leads and clients.
● A CRM replaces the multitude of spreadsheets, databases and apps that many businesses patch
together to track client data.
● The result: organization, efficiency, better time management, and impressed clients.
● Contact management is the core function of any customer information system including CRM
software.
● The purpose of a CRM is to store and manage all data for every kind of contact, from leads to business
partners.
● Components:
 ○ Satisfaction:
■ Customer satisfaction is the measure of a customer’s perception of the quality of a
product, service, or company.
■ Customer satisfaction is important because it acts as a purchasing guideline for the
company and the customer.
■ If a customer is not satisfied with the result of their purchase, they are more likely to
purchase from another company.
○ Loyalty:
■ Customer loyalty is the measure of repeat sales and referrals.
■ It is based on how often a customer purchases from one particular company versus
others that may be similar or better suited to their needs.
■ Loyal customers are more likely to be satisfied with their purchase and recommend the
product to others.
■ Thus, it is important because it provides a consistent source of revenue for the
company.
○ Profitability:
■ Profitability is a measurement of how much profit (or loss) a company makes during its
operation. It can be calculated by total revenue minus total costs.
■ Profit is important because it allows companies to continue operations and stay
profitable in order to grow and expand.
■ Without profit, companies would eventually not be able to pay employees, suppliers or
taxes, and would eventually go out of business due to lack of funds.
○ Customer Retention:
■ Customer retention is a measurement of how many customers remain loyal to one
company over time.
■ Retained customers are less expensive for companies to retain than new customers
who have to go through research and development, marketing campaigns, promotion
costs, etc., all over again for new customers.
■ They are also more profitable for companies because they do not have to spend money
acquiring them again after they have already purchased from the company once before.

6.2) List down the requirements of CRM for sales and marketing(maybe 2 marks,
write accordingly)
● Marketing Automation Tools
○ Most CRMs offer bundled marketing automation tools.
○ This will allow you to track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns across multiple
channels.
○ There’s always the option of using a CRM integration to connect your marketing tools with your
CRM.

● Sales and Marketing Tracking

○ It’s important to be able to quantify the effectiveness of your marketing and sales teams.
○ A CRM should help you better manage your contacts, and track your entire customer journey,
from the first contact, all the way up to a sale.
○ Look for CRM software that provides robust contact management and reporting features.

● Built-in Reporting and Analytics

○ Your CRM should be able to easily produce reports about your business and the effectiveness
of your marketing activities.
○ After all, it’s hard to plan for the future, if you don’t know where you currently stand.
 ○ Beyond traditional sales reports, you should be able to produce reports that handle things like:
the effectiveness of your pipeline, the quality of your leads, customer lifecycle drop off points
and more.

● Advanced Communication Features

○ A lot of modern CRMs do a lot more than just help you manage your customer relationships,
they actively improve workflows throughout your organization.
○ For example, do you require collaboration and document management software, so your team
can engage on the fly? Or, how about bundled VoIP features to conduct meetings, calls, and
more? Consider these factors before purchasing CRM software.

● Integration Support and Ease of Use

○ Chances are, your business relies upon more than a single piece of software for marketing,
sales, and other workflows.
○ For this reason you'll want to ensure your CRM supports multiple software integrations.
○ This will help link different datasets together, make workflows more efficient, and overall help
your business run more smoothly.

● Customer Service and Support Tools

○ Some companies drop the ball once a prospect has become a customer.
○ However, with integrated customer support tools you can increase the chances of your
customers staying with you over the long term.
○ By integrating customer support functions into your CRM you'll be able to deepen and grow your
customer and client relationships.

6.3) Why is CRM an important part of E-commerce?(check)

● Customer relationship management or CRM involves all the events, strategies, and technologies
adopted by companies for managing their existing and potential customer interactions.
● It is because several businesses believe their customers to be the king.
● A significant rise in eCommerce business has provided the customers with ample options of choice.
● They usually settle for user-friendly stores with product testimonials and offers.
● Customers also look forward to brands addressing their queries and grievances promptly.
● Such prompt and regular responses boost customer experiences, thus, increasing the brand’s
popularity and sales.
● Most customers seek personalized touch from businesses through advertisements or shopping
experiences.
● Keeping up with this personalized approach is the most challenging task for e-commerce businesses.
● They can practice this approach in multiple ways – telephone calls, chats, emails, websites, social
media, etc.
● The revenue of a company is impacted by both customer loyalty and revenue. Thus, the CRM
management strategy helps to boost the company’s profits.

6.4) What is the Transaction Process? How is it implemented in MIS design?

● Transaction process is a term that refers to the adding, changing, deleting, or looking up of a record in
a data file or database by entering the data at a terminal or workstation.
● A Transaction Processing System (TPS) is a type of information system that collects, stores, modifies
and retrieves the data transactions of an enterprise.
● Transaction processing systems also attempt to provide predictable response times to requests,
although this is not as critical as for real-time systems.
 ● Rather than allowing the user to run arbitrary programs as time-sharing, transaction processing allows
only predefined, structured transactions.
● Each transaction is usually short duration and the processing activity for each transaction is
programmed in advance.

6.5) Create a CRM portal for a medium size business.

6.6) How the emerging platform trends have influenced grid computing, on demand
computing, autonomic computing and edge computing?
● While the cost of computing has fallen, IT infrastructure expenditures have grown due to the rising cost
of computing services, software, and the increase in intensity and sophistication of computing.
● Telecommunications and computing platforms have converged: at the client level, with the merging of
PDAs and cell phones, and at the server and network level, with the rise of Internet telephony.
● Grid computing utilizes the idle computational resources of separate, geographically remote computers
to create a single virtual supercomputer. In this process, a server computer breaks data and
applications into discrete chunks that are parceled out to the grid's machines. Grid computing offers
increased cost savings, computational speed and agility.
● On-demand computing, or utility computing, refers to firms off-loading peak demand for computing
power to remote, large-scale data processing centers. This allows firms to reduce their investment in IT
infrastructure by investing in only as much computing power as needed on average and paying for
additional power on an as-needed basis. This arrangement offers firms much greater agility and
flexibility in their infrastructure.
● Autonomic computing is an industry-wide effort to develop systems that can configure, optimize, repair,
and protect themselves against intruders and viruses, in an effort to free system administrators from
routine system management, reduce costly system crashes. Today's virus software with automatic
virus updates is one example of autonomic computing.
● Edge computing is a multi-tier, load-balancing scheme for Web-based applications in which parts of the
Web site content and processing are performed by smaller, less expensive servers located near the
computer. In an edge computing platform client requests are initially processed by the edge servers,
which may deliver static presentation content, reusable code, while database and business logic
components are delivered by the enterprise servers.
Design a transaction process system TPS for the transactions for placing an order.

● Order entry system: captures the basic data needed to process a customer order.
● Sales configuration system: ensures that the products and services ordered are sufficient to
accomplish the customer’s objectives and will work well together.
● Shipment planning system: determines which open orders will be filled and from which location they
will be shipped Shipment execution system: coordinates the outflow of all products from the
organization, to deliver quality products on time to customers.
● Inventory-control system: updates the computerized inventory records to reflect the exact quantity on
hand of each stock-keeping unit.
● Invoice and Billing: An invoicing application looks up the full name and address of the customer,
determines whether the customer has an adequate credit rating, automatically computes discounts,
adds taxes and other charges, and prepares invoices and envelopes.
● Customer relationship management (CRM) system: helps a company manage all aspects of customer
encounters, including marketing and advertising, sales, customer service after the sale, and programs
to retain loyal customers.
● Routing system: determines the best way to get products from one location to another.
● Scheduling system: determines the best time to pick up or deliver goods and services.

6.7) Design a TPS for Manufacturing Department

6.8) What are various Product cycle models?

Wrong question wording I guess Amogh Joshi

6.9) How to manage the organization in the absence of higher authorities?

6.10) Explain system life cycle model with suitable diagram