Data Warehouses
Task 1: Describe any two information systems for Management support in a business?
Task 2: Describe any two examples of Differentiation Strategy?
Task 3: Describe any two examples of Virtual Companies?
Task 4: Explain any one application of Decision Support Systems to gain competitive
advantage in a business?
Task 5: Describe any three benefits of using Transaction Processing Systems in a business?
| Subject | Computer Science | Pages | 14 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Data Warehouses
A data warehouse is an information system in which a firm uses to store all its information and data. This acts as the main information source and data centre for the firm. In most cases, the data warehouse is divided into several subsections. The main subsections used by firms range from the nature of information to their access. For instance, the information contained in the data warehouse might be classified into public data which is available to all people. This is the data which is mainly found when one searches on the internet such as the financial records of the company, the executive members and so on. On the other hand, there is classified data which is only available to a selected group of individuals. All this information and data is stored in the data warehouse (Kroenke, 2008)nt systems, one strategy firms use is by differentiating their online interface. This is the interface which first greets anyone who accesses the information systems. For instance, competitors might be having the same strategy where they all choose to target online customers. This mainly happens with virtual sites. Take an example of Alibaba and Amazon who mainly sell online. The system interface run by Alibaba is totally different from Amazon interface. This is in an effort to differentiate firm A from firm B. Automatically, it is expected that the firm with the best interface will have more clients. In otheems, firms make use of the pre and post information available for the subjects in an effort to differentiate their products and services. Take an example of two firms which are selling phones. The perfect example would be Samsung and I-Phone. Once a person accesses the online content, an I-Phone is displayed differently from the Samsung phone. On purchasing either phone, Samsung might make information on where to find their service centers available while I-Phone might disclose to the customer the specs of their latest phone or one they hope to release soon.
Task 3
Amazon
Amazon is one of the largest online retailers in the World. It is a US based company which fully suits the criteria of a virtual company. It is virtual since the customers make orders online and pay for them online too (Williams, 2006). The only transaction which takes place physically is the exchange of goods between an agent from Amazon and the customer.
Microsoft
Microsoft is a software maker and retailer. The company also manufactures a few hardware parts. It is based in the technology and innovation region of Silicon Valley. It fully qualifies to be a virtual company since most of the times no physical contact takes place. The client buys a software online, pays online and Microsoft sends the software via its online platforms. Microsoft qualifies to be one of the most successful virtual companies in the world.
Task 4
Decision support channels and systems can range from management to data systems. However, I chose to cover the system dealing with statistics. This is a system which is applied by almost all large companies and small enterprises in the world. The best example will be statistical models used to estimate the expected revenues for a firm. These estimations are calculated based on the previous revenues earned and the expected economic periods (Watson, 1993). Another example is where countries make use of decision support models to calculate the expected growth rates and GDP.
Task 5
Benefits of using TPS in a business
Improves performance- By dividing work or the transactions, the performance of the system improves. This is because each system performs a specific task. For instance, one system might be covering computation of sales while the other one is churning out the receipts to customers (Vossen, 2002).
Reliability- Where each system performs a specific task, the time period taken to complete the task is shorter compared to when the system performs all the tasks.
Ensures stability of the system- In the situation where the database crushes or fails, the TPS ensures the transaction in process will finish while the unfinished will automatically be rebooted back.
Consistency- Transaction Processing Systems ensures the work produced is consistent. For instance, the accounts produced today and ones produced last week follow the same structure but the figures are different.
References
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Kroenke, D (2008). Experiencing MIS. Upper Saddle: Prentice Hall Press. Vossen, G (2002). Transactional Information Systems. Kauffman Press. ISBN 1-55860-508-8 Watson, J (1993). Decision Support Systems. Prentice Hall Press. Williams, D (2006). Wikinomics. London: Penguin Press. |