Supporting Collaboration

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Supporting Collaboration
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Managing Information Resources
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Data, Information and Knowledge

• Data
• Facts devoid of meaning or intent
• e.g. structured data in DB
• Information
• Data that has meaning (data in context)
• Content term for the Web age
• Information presented electronically in a variety
  of media charts, text, voice, sound, graphics
  etc.
• Knowledge
• Information with direction or intent

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The Three-level Database Model

• The three-level database model
• Level 1 the conceptual level
• Containing the various "user views" of the
  corporate data that each application program uses
  
• Level 2 the logical level
• Logical views of an organizations data as under
  the control of the DBAs
• Level 3 the physical level
• Specifying the way the data is physically stored
• Advantages
• Level 2 absorbs changes made at level 3
• Data only needs to be stored once in level 2
• Different programs can draw on it and vary the
  relationships among the data

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Getting Corporate Data into Shape

• The Problem management can not get consistent
  view across the enterprise
• Incompatible data definitions from application to
  application
• The Cause an application-driven chaos
• Getting applications running as quickly as
  possible
• The Solution a data-driven approach
• ERP is one of the main driving force for getting
  data into shape in many companies

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What is Data Warehouse?

• A data warehouse is a subject-oriented,
  integrated, time-variant, and nonvolatile
  collection of data in support of managements
  decision-making process.W. H. Inmon

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Data Warehouse vs. Heterogeneous DBMS

• Traditional heterogeneous DB integration A query
  driven approach
• Build wrappers/mediators on top of heterogeneous
  databases
• Data warehouse update-driven, high performance
• Information from heterogeneous sources is
  integrated in advance and stored in warehouses
  for direct query and analysis
• Why have a separate data warehouse
• Promote the high performance of both systems
• An OLAP operation needs no concurrent transaction
  support
• Structures, content and uses of data are
  different in two systems

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Document Management

• Estimated that 90 of an organizations
  information is in documents rather than
  structured databases
• Types of Documents
• Contracts and Agreements
• Reports
• Manuals and Handbooks
• Correspondence
• Memos
• Drawings and Blueprints

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Content Management

• Traditional home-grown content management
• The Webmaster was the publishing bottle neck
• 3 phases of content management life cycle
• Input-process-output

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XML Web Content Management

• XML is used to put tags on data giving that data
  meaning
• Computers use the meanings to manipulate the data
  and perform work
• Use of XML moves Web content from being in a
  human-only readable format to being in a
  computer-readable format
• The content can be passed to back-end transaction
  processing systems and cause an action to take
  place
• e.g. ordering a book or configuring a new
  computer
• Manipulating the content to work with transaction
  applications the basis for e-commerce

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Managing Operations
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Main Shift in the Operations Viewpoint
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Whats New in Operations?

• Companies have "cleaned their operational house"
• Y2K problem moved company from a survival mode to
  a planning mode
• More operations managers are managing outward
• CIOs does not relinquish responsibility for
  operations
• Ensure their people are properly managing
  relationships
• Operations are being "simplified"
• Centralizing applications in one place rather
  than distribute them on PCs
• Server based computing (thin client)
• Certain operations are being offloaded
• e.g. Microsoft offloaded webcasts to Netpodium

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Outsourcing IS Function

• Outsourcing means turning over a firm's computer
  operations, network operations, or other IT
  function to a vendor for a specified time
• The focus of CIOs in operations is changing
• In the past, ensuring they had the in-house
  expertise to keep systems and networks up and
  tuning
• Now, determining where best to perform the
  various kinds of operations
• In house or with a third party and manage it
  accordingly

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The Driving Forces Behind Outsourcing

• 70 of US economy had global competition in 1970s
• Companies had to focus on core business, which
  led to huge amount of merger and acquisition
  activity
• Companies were priced based on their shareholder
  value
• Focus and value
• Management must stress value, they must consider
  outsourcing in all their nonstrategic functions

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Outsourcing

• Transitional outsourcing
• Best-of-breed outsourcing
• Shared services
• Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
• E-business outsourcing
• Utility Computing

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The Balance Between Security and Risk

• Information Security is a balancing act between
  ease of access to information and protecting that
  information from increasing threats
• The Information Security Manager must
• Constantly bear in mind the organization's
  appetite for risk
• Assess where the "appropriate" balance lies
• Be prepared to press their case "strenuously"
  when they believe the risk is not within
  acceptable bounds.

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Security's Six Pillars

• A secure system should provide
• Nonrepudiation a transaction cannot be denied
  by any of the parties to it
• Confidentiality data or services are protected
  from unauthorized access
• Integrity data or services are delivered as
  intended
• Assurance (authentication) the parties to the
  transaction are who they say they are
• Availability - the system will be available for
  legitimate use no DOS.
• Auditing the system tracks activities within it
  at levels sufficient to reconstruct them

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Technologies for Developing Systems
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The Evolution of System Development
Web services SOA
2000
Integrated product lines Component-based systems
Software architecture
1990
Packages
Architectural elements
RDBMS SQL
Software development environments
1980
Programming-in-the-large
Modules, system organization
Information hiding
1970
NATO SE conference
Separate compilation
Data structures, algorithm, objects
1960
Subroutines
High-level languages
1950
Sequence of instructions
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The Spiral Model
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Structured System Development

• Some elements of the structured system
  development
• Hand coding in third generation language
• "Structured programming" development methodology
• DBMS
• Development of mostly mainframe applications
• Various automated, but not well integrated
  software tools
• User participation mainly in require definition
  and installation phases

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4th Generation Language (4GL)

• A programming language closer to human languages
  than 3GL
• 4GL specifies the purpose without details on
  procedures
• E.g. SQL
• SELECT NAME, SCORE FROM STUDENT

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Internet-based Systems

• Internet-based systems must be
• Scalable
• Reliable
• Integrated with systems of customers or business
  partners
• Three cornerstones for Internet-based systems
• Application servers
• Java
• Web service

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System Integration

• Three traditional integration approaches
• DBMSs
• A data-centered approach, allowing applications
  to share data stored in a single or distributed
  database
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• An application-centered approach, all
  applications come from a single vendor and are
  specifically designed to communicate with each
  other
• Middleware
• A third-party approach, applications communicate
  with each other through a third-party translation
  software

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The Traditional Project Management Triangle

• The three competing constraints
• Increased scope typically means increased time
  and increased cost
• A tight time constraint could mean increased
  costs and reduced scope
• A tight budget could mean increased time and
  reduced scope

SCOPE
QUALITY
COST
TIME
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Supporting Decision Making
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Technologies Supporting Decision Making

• Computer technologies that support decision
  making
• Decision support system (DSSs)
• Data mining
• Executive information systems (EISs)
• Expert systems (ESs)
• Agent-based modeling
• Multidisciplinary foundations for DS technologies
• Database research, artificial intelligence,
  statistical inference, human-computer
  interaction, simulation methods, software
  engineering etc.

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DSS Architecture (1)
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Knowledge Discovery (KDD) Process
Knowledge

• Data miningcore of knowledge discovery process

Pattern Evaluation
Data Mining
Task-relevant Data
Selection
Data Warehouse
Data Cleaning
Data Integration
Databases
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Architecture A Typical Data Mining System
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Architecture of an ES
User Interface
Inference Engine
Description of a problem
User
Knowledge Base
Advice and explanation
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Knowledge Representation

• In AI, the primary aim of knowledge
  representation is to store knowledge so that
  programs can process it and achieve the
  verisimilitude of human intelligence
• The representation theory has its origin in
  cognitive science
• Knowledge can be represented in a number of ways
• Case-based reasoning
• Artificial neural networks
• Stored as rules

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Agent-based Modeling

• Simulate the behavior that emerges from the
  decisions of a large number of distinct
  individuals
• Computer generated agents, each making decisions
  typical of the decisions an individual would make
  in the real world
• Trying to understand the mysteries of why
  businesses, markets, consumers, and other complex
  systems behave as they do

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Supporting Collaboration Knowledge Work
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Organization Structure ---Demise of Hierarchy
Command-and-control hierarchical bureaucracies
Coordinated, collaborative self-managed groups
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Characteristics of Groups (1)

• Collaboration is all about getting work done in a
  group rather than individually
• Characteristics that differentiate groups
  include
• Membership
• Some groups are open, some are closed.
• Interaction
• Some groups are loosely coupled (salespeople with
  their own territories)
• Others work closely together (project team)

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Characteristics of Groups (2)

• Hierarchy
• Some groups have a chain of command (tiers of
  committees)
• Location
• Some members are co-located, some are dispersed
• Time
• Some groups are short-lived, some are ongoing
• Some group member works full time on the group's
  work, other groups only require intermittent work
• These characteristics illustrate that providing
  computer-based support for groups is not uniform
• From inter-company groups to global teams

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Community of Practice (2)

• Three characteristics of CoPs are crucial
• The domain
• An CoP has an identity defined by a shared domain
  of interest.
• The community
• CoP members engage in joint activities and
  discussions, help each other, and share
  information
• The practice
• Members of a community of practice are
  practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire
  of resources experiences, stories, tools, ways
  of addressing recurring problemsin short a
  shared practice

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Group Activities and Supporting Tech

• Group activities
• Communication and interaction
• Communication transmitting information from one
  person to others
• Interaction back-and-forth communication over
  time
• Decision making and problem solving
• Group members reach a decision or form a
  consensus
• Supporting tech
• Communication email, office systems
• Collaboration CSCW (Groupware)
• Decision making GDSS

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The CSCW Matrix
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Companies Want to Manage Knowledge (1)

• Controversial views on knowledge management
• Knowledge can be captured in computer systems
• Knowledge can not be captured in a machine, it
  only exists inside a persons head
• Information VS. knowledge
• Knowledge management is a misnomer
• Knowledge cannot be managed, but only shared
• The more people are connected, the more they
  exchange ideas, the more their knowledge spreads
  and can thus be leveraged

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Companies Want to Manage Knowledge (2)

• Tacit and explicit knowledge
• Tacit knowledge exists within a person's mind and
  is private and unique to each person
• Explicit knowledge has been articulated,
  codified, and made public
• Effective knowledge management requires
  transferring knowledge between these two states
• Nurturing, cultivating and harvesting knowledge
• Knowledge management ? knowledge sharing

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CoPs and Knowledge Management

• Traditional knowledge management captures only
  the most explicit forms of knowledge
• Tacit knowledge is more related with day-to-day
  activities and how work is done in practice
• Communities are the critical building blocks of a
  knowledge-based company
• People, not processes, do the work
• Learning is about work, work is about learning,
  and both are social
• Organizations are webs of participation