Operations Management and Supply Chain Management

8.1 Define the term operations management.

Operations management is the administration of the procedures that transform resources into goods and services

8.2 Explain operations management's role in business.

Operations management is responsible for forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, managing inventories, assuring quality, motivating employees, facility location decisions, along with others. Forecasting includes predicting future demands and estimating future growth and reduction. Capacity planning maintains cash flow and increase revenues. Schedules are set routines that must be maintained.  Inventory is managed by recording and managing products relevant to the business. Quality is a key component to customer satisfaction and business priority. Employees must be trained and motivated to perform the job to the best of their ability. The location of the facility is crucial to target specific customers as well as to the success of the business.

8.3 Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology.

Operations management is effected by information technology with regards to decisions such as productivity, costs, flexibility, quality, and customer satisfaction. The goals of the organization can be influenced by the aid of information technology for operations management to make operational decisions. These well informed decisions are crucial to the outcome of the organization as a whole.

8.4 Describe the five characteristics of competitive priorities.

Competitive priorities consist of cost, quality, delivery, flexibility, and service. When customers make purchasing decisions, cost is one of the main factors that influence which product to choose.  There are two forms of quality, product quality and process quality. The level of quality depends on the projected market. Therefore, organizations must focus on the market in order to produce the appropriate product quality. Process quality is implemented in order to produce flawless products. In turn, this results in stronger customer relationships and higher revenues.

8.5 Explain supply chain management and its role in a business.

Supply chain management organizes information flows throughout the supply chain in order to maximize effectiveness and profitability by supply chain strategy, partners, operation and logistics. Supply chain strategy is the method of meeting customer demand for products by managing all resources. The partners in the supply chain are responsible for delivering finished products, raw materials, and services such as pricing, delivery and payment. Supply chain operation is measured by productivity and quality for production activities. Supply chain logistics is the product delivery processes. If all the processes in the supply chain are managed effectively an organization will benefit from increasing supplier power, efficiencies and switching costs. An organization can also decrease the buyer power, reduce threat of substitute products and threat of new entrants by creating entry barriers.

Customer Relationship Management and Business Intelligence

9.1 Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.
Operational customer relationship management is comprised of day-to-day activity that deals with customers directly. Analytical, on the other hand, is specific to back-office operations that do not deal directly with customers.

9.2 Explain the formula an organization can use to find its most valuable customers.
For an organization to find its most valuable customers, they use the recency, frequency and monetary value formula. Recency is related to how recent a customer has made a purchase. Frequency deals with how often a customer has made a purchase. How much a customer spends on each purchase is also known as the monetary value.

9.3 Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by sales departments and customer service departments.
The customer relationship management technology the sales department uses is sales management, contact management and opportunity management. Sales management technology aids sales representatives synchronize and manage all accounts. Contact management sustains and customer contact information and determines future potential customers. Seeking new customers and companies for future sales opportunities is a function of opportunity management. Customer service departments use CRM technologies such as contact center, web-based self-service, and call scripting. Contact centers ensure consistency with customer service representatives by maintaining a high level of customer support. This technology answers customer inquiries and react to problems through various customer touch points. Web-based self-service provides all customer answers and solutions when a problem or question has arisen. Call scripting systems handle similar problems and automatically generates details for the CSR who will deliver the solution or answer to the customer.

9.4 Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by marketing departments and sales departments.
The marketing department uses three main CRM technologies that differentiate from the sales department technologies. The marketing department technologies include list generators, campaign management and cross-selling and up-selling. List generators use various sources in order to collect customer information for various marketing campaigns. Campaign management performs all tasks crucial to marketing campaigns including campaign definition, planning, scheduling, segmentation and success analysis. Cross selling is the act of selling additional products or services to a customer. Up-selling is increasing the value of the sale. The customer relationship management technology the sales department uses is sales management, contact management and opportunity management. Sales management technology aids sales representatives synchronize and manage all accounts. Contact management sustains and customer contact information and determines future potential customers. Seeking new customers and companies for future sales opportunities is a function of opportunity management.

9.5 Compare customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, partner relationship management, and employee relationship management
Customer relationship management increases customer loyalty and retention by managing all aspects of a customer relationship with an organization. Supplier relationship management satisfies suppliers by evaluating and categorizing suppliers for various projects. Partner relationship management is specific to vendor satisfaction by providing customers with optimal sales and managing partner and reseller relationships. Employee relationship management uses a web browser in order to provide employees with CRM applications.

Networks, Telecommunications and Mobile Techonology

7.1 Compare LANs, WANs, and MANs.
LANs are also known as local area networks. This unites computers near the same range of computers. This includes in schools or offices or even in a home, areas that are locally connected. WANs, or wide area network, is exactly what it stands for. This is a network that can connect computers over a large distance such as a whole state or country. WANs can also connect multiple smaller networks including LANs.  Wide area networks include the internet. Metropolitan area networks, or MANs is a network that stretches across a city.

7.2 Describe the business benefits associated with VoIP.
Voice over IPs cover long distance telephone lines. Business benefit from the 10% of phone calls that are trasmitted by VoIPs. They provide easier development and incorporates applications through certain standards. These standards provide more options and new applications that are cheap. They gain through saving on costs, at the same time, improving productivity and services. To ensure business security, VoIPs monitors traffic.  

7.3 Explain the difference between a VPN and a VAN.
Virtual private networks, or VPNs is secure service offered to access networks by using the public telecommunications. Value added networks, on the other hand, has a high connection that information is transferred through privately.

7.4 Identify the advantages and disadvantages of broadband technology.
Broadband technology  provides many different services that can benefit or harm a corporation. The advantages of broadband technology would include increasing the speed of the business. Broadband offers high speed internet.

7.5 List and describe many of the network security problems.
Networks can experience problems with security in various ways. A focus on network access approval, network control and data protection are important to the security of the site. Firms should monitor who can access the network and limit their control to modify the data.

Telecommunications Basics

C.1 Compare LANs, WANs, and MANs.
LANs are also known as local area networks. This unites computers near the same range of computers. This includes in schools or offices or even in a home, areas that are locally connected. WANs, or wide area network, is exactly what it stands for. This is a network that can connect computers over a large distance such as a whole state or country. WANs can also connect multiple smaller networks including LANs.  Wide area networks include the internet. Metropolitan area networks, or MANs is a network that stretches across a city.


C.2 List and describe the four components that differentiate networks.
Networks can be differentiated by four major aspects, architecture, topology, protocols, and media. Architectures are defined by two major networks, peer-to-peer networks and client/server networks. Topology are networks that are assembled according to certain rules. Protocols

C.3 Compare the two types of network architectures.
Architectures are defined by two major networks, peer-to-peer networks and client/server networks. Peer-to-peer networks allow computers in the network to access files located on a public central server. Client/server networks are used by clients to communicate with users on the front end processing, while on the back end servers search databases.

C.4 Explain topology and the different types found in networks.
Topology is networks that are assembled according to certain rules. There are five different network topologies. Bus is a network topology that is all centered on the cable all devices are connected to. These are cheap and easy for smaller networks. Star topologies are also connected to a central cable. These are also easy to install and control. When devices are interconnected in a closed loop shape it is a ring topology. It is shaped this way so they can connect directly to two other devices on both sides. Although they are inexpensive, offer high bandwidth and can cpan large distances, they are still difficult to set up. Hybrid topologies are connected in a line bus backbone cable, hybrid of a bus and star topology. Last is a wireless topology that is connected by a transmitter to a card that communicates signals between a computer and a server.

C.5 Describe TCP/IP along with its primary purpose.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol connects the internet and private networks. The purpose is to provide flexibility with regards to lower-level protocols. It is flexible to changes in data transfer and flexible to adjustments to slower devices and any other possible encounters.

C.6 Identify the different media types found in networks.
There is wire media and wireless media found in networks. Wireless media limits the signal path while wireless media utilizes the environment to carry electrical signals.

Databases and Data Warehouses

6.1 List, describe, and provide an example of each of the five characteristics of high quality information.

The five characteristics of high quality information include accuracy, completeness, consistency, uniqueness and timeliness. Accuracy, for example, would include spelling or correct recording of amounts and other information.  Completeness is a characteristic of high quality information that would include how thorough the information is, such as a complete address including all required fields, street, city, state and zip code. If all the information is in agreement then it is consistent.  An example of consistent information would include all the totals being the actual total. Uniqueness ensures the information is distinctive, for example, checking for any duplicates in customers. The final characteristic of high quality information is timeliness information that is current which includes checking for updated information.

6.2 Define the relationship between a database and a database management system.

Database management systems and databases interact and communicate together. Databases are where applications and programs are located relevant to management systems. Databases contain records and various pieces of information. This makes it easier for the information to be communicated between multiple databases. The management system is the database that is used to manage and query the database.

6.3 Describe the advantages an organization can gain by using a database.

By using a database an organization can accomplish tasks by means of increased flexibility, increased scalability and performance, reduced information redundancy, increased information quality and increased information security. Increased flexibility is the adaptation to changes efficiently and effectively. Databases allow users to access information in a way most convenient for the user.  The measure of performance and the ability of a system to adapt

6.4 Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model.
A relational database model has two dimensional tables where information is organized. The fundamental concepts of the relational database model include entities and attributes. The entities include information stored relating to a person, place, thing, transaction or event. Entities are represented thorough tables of the relational database model. Also represented on the tables are the characteristics of an entity class also known as attributes. In order to display the most logical relationships among models primary and foreign keys are used. A primary key identifies a given entity in a table. Foreign keys is the logical representation between a primary key in one model and an attribute in another.


6.5 Describe the two primary methods for integrating information across multiple databases.
 Information can be integrated forwards and backwards. Forward integration automatically transfers all information to downstream systems and processes. Backwards integration is the exact opposite, it takes all the information to automatically send to upstream systems and processes.


6.6 Compare relational integrity constraints and business-critical integrity constraints.
The rules that delivers quality information are integrity constraints. Relational integrity constraints includes fundamental constraints in the most basic form.  Business-critical integrity constraints are more complex than relational constraints. This requires business rules crucial to the success of an organization.Integrity constraints benefits databases by providing high quality information that will lead to high quality business decisions.

6.7 Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.
 Data-driven websites relate directly to its customers and is well up to date providing accurate information. Data-driven websites are most useful when a website contains a lot of information, products or services. They allow information to be accessed through queries that is analyzed by the website then builds a website customized that meets the query.