Chapter 1: IS in the 2010's

What are the components of Information Systems? of Information Technology?
What is the difference between these two?
Why is this difference important to recognize?

What are the three main categories of pressures that cause organizations to change?
How are these forces potentially related?
Why do some of these forces exist independantly from technology itself?
How do companes try to keep up with the changes imposed by these forces?

What are Critical Response Activities?
What causes CRAs to be necessary?
Why do CRAs sometimes overlap with one another?
How can CRAs be used by companies to help shape strategy (ties to chapter 12)?

What is Performance Management?
How does this concept fit with Informatin Systems and with CSFs that we discuss in Ch12?

Porter's Competitive Forces Model and Value Chain Analysis as described in this chapter were discussed in Ch12.

Chapter 2: Information Technologies: Infrastructure and Support

What are Data, Information, and Knowledge?

What are the various methods by which information systems may be categorized?
What do we learn from these various methods of categorization?
How do the various types of information systems differ from one another? (what are distinguishing features among systems)

What is meant by Information Architecture?

How are Information Systems Resources managed in companies today (who performs this task)?
What is the difference between centralized and decentralized architecture or management?
Which is more appropriate for any given organization: centralized or decentralized?
Why might users resist the introduction of new information systems?

Chapter 12 : Stratigic Planning / Information Systems

What are the differences between Inwardly and Outwardly focused Strategic IS?

What is Competitive Intelligence?
How can it be gathered?
How can it be used?
What might one learn from using Competitive Intelligence?

What are Porters Competitive Forces?
What do you learn from this type of analysis?
How do you assess these forces?
How do you guard against potential competitive threats with IS?

What are Critical Success Factors?
How are they derived or discovered:
How can an organization learn what its CSFs are?
What can we learn from their study?

What is Porters Value Chain Analysis?
What do we learn from this analysis?
Why might these things we learn be important?
What are the components of the Value Chain?
How does the study of Value Chain relate to Competitive Forces? With CRAs?

What is meant by IT Governance?

Chapter 6: Electronic Commerce

What are the necessary requirements for electronic payment?

How does Encryption work?
What purpose does it serve?
How can I be sure of where my online payment will go?

What are new possibilities of Mobile Commerce?

What are various methods by which Buyers & Sellers may protect themselves
Why does e-commerce involve new legal issues?

Web Links from class home page

While I will not directly test you on the content of these articles, you may want to be familiar with them to be able to use them as evidence or examples of specific types of information systems and how they are used by organizations.