what is the mission 1

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  • to critically assess the 1) mission, 2) goals, and 3) importance of information systems and their management (ISM) in the firm, 4) using their own work organization as an example. Consider benefits as well as costs/risks of information systems and information management, particularly under (increasing) public scrutiny and regulations aimed at protecting/ safeguarding/ maintaining many different kinds of information.

Clarification:

The single most important point made in these materials is that information systems, and their supporting information technology plus included telecommunications technology, are not drivers in well-managed organizations; instead, they are when properly used, supporters of the business mission and strategy.

That is true of UMUC, where the mission is educate with the major marketing strategy to be online. It is also true of Amazon.com, where the mission is to make a profit selling a wide number of products, and the major marketing strategy is again, online.

The second most important point, stressed by Professor McFarlan and epitomized by Amazon.com, Apple and Google, is that properly-designed and -implemented information systems can convey a strategic competitive advantage to their enterprises.

an example using UMUC as the firm.

  • The mission of information systems management at University of Maryland University College is to support the teaching and administrative processes of the university in an efficient and effective (!, recall operations management) way
  • The goals of UMUC ISM include:
    • Being at the state of the art in course delivery at a distance. That’s why we have used Webex, D2L, google- and pdf format and audio/video materials
    • Providing 24×7 reliability in the Learning environment, in PeopleSoft and other essential information systems. 360 Support is on call via message and telephone at all hours, for instance.
    • Conserving State and student (ie, tuition) resources in accomplishing the foregoing, which Maryland taxpayers and the state legislature expect.
  • The importance of ISM at UMUC is extremely high, given
    • First, that the University has strategically decided to be the open university of Maryland and the United States, providing learning services to a growing student body mostly* at a distance, thus using information systems heavily.
    • Second, there are a plethora of state and federal regulations, plus community standards, that govern the management of information at UMUC and thus provide continuing, importance-raising challenges.**

*Currently, about 82% of UMUC Adelphi students study exclusively online, and another 10% learn through a “hybrid” online/F2F program.

**One example is the accommodation requirements of the federal ADA – Americans with Disabilities – Act. These require that information be delivered at UMUC in ways that accommodate, for instance, visually- and hearing-impaired students. This means, for one example, that we must prepare – and pay for – transcripts of audio materials for hearing-impaired students (and some professors too).


Readings (Required):

  • Benson, R.J., Ribbers, P.M., and Blitstein, R.B. (2014) Trust and Partnership: Strategic IT: Management for Turbulent Times. Preface and Chapter 1 (in eReserves)
  • High, P.A. (2014) Implementing World Class IT Strategy: How IT Can Drive Organizational Innovation. Foreword and Chapter 1. (in eReserves)
  • Stewart, James (2015) On the Two Week 11 Readings on Strategic IT Management (in eReserves)

Multimedia (Required):

  • McFarlan, F. W. (n.d.) The new strategic weapon: Information technology. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Publishing. See topic following on McFarlan to access this video

  • The New Strategic Weapon: Information TechnologyF. Warren McFarlan(Video lecture)Description: Information technology is not just back-office technology; it is a strategic weapon in today’s business environment. IT makes companies survive, excel, and win.Professor F. Warren McFarlan expands on this theme, and his insights help you understand where IT is today and predict where it will go in the next forty years. Topics covered: Management; Strategy; Technology and Operations; Strategic Competitive AdvantageThis lecture is included because the learning it imparts is as true today as when the lecture was first delivered.Go to Professor McFarlan. Click on “Video” on screen left when at the UMUC Library page with the lecture. Note the availability of a PDF Full Text version on this page.

An information system is a combination of technology-based hardware and software, people with the professional skills to make the hardware and software work, and procedures to make the foregoing function in support of overall enterprise strategy

Sometimes ISM is also known as information technology (IT) management, after one of the two applied sciences that – together with telecommunications technology – is involved in creating the hardware and software.

 
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