Final Examination Semester 1 / Year 2012

Transcription

1 Southern College Kolej Selatan 南方学院 Final Examination Semester 1 / Year 2012 COURSE : STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS COURSE CODE : CSIS2003 TIME : 2 1/2 HOURS DEPARTMENT : COMPUTER SCIENCE LECTURER : LEE HUAH Student s ID : Batch No. : Notes to candidates: 1) The question paper consists of 5 pages: 27 questions in 4 sections. 2) Answer all questions. 3) Use the Standardized Answer Form for all sections 4) Return the question paper with your answer booklet.

2 Section A. Choose one proper answer for the following questions. (10 questions X 2 = 20 marks) 1) IT governance has two major components: (1) the assignment of decision-making authority and responsibility, and (2) the. a) decision-making tasks b) decision rights c) business plan d) capability maturity model e) decision-making mechanism 2) This model, created by D Aveni, describes the strategies companies can use to disrupt competition. a) New 7 Ss Framework b) Hypercompetition Framework c) Strategic Framework System d) Standard System Strategy Model e) Multiple Competition Model 3) This term,, is defined as the available data, technology, people, and processes within an organization to be used by the manager to perform business processes and tasks. a) information resources b) information technology c) information systems d) system technology e) organization resources 4) This is an approach that improves the way a company finds raw components it needs to make a product or service, manufactures that product or service, and delivers it to customers. a) Customer Relationship Management b) Supply Chain Management c) Production Supply Management d) Strategic Alliance Management e) Value Chain Management 5) The most common driver for insourcing is to. a) Keep employees loyal to the company b) Make a system that cannot be bought c) In-house IT developers develop a greater skill set d) It can lose control over the development of the system e) Keep core competencies in-house 1 / 5

3 6) The Resource-Based View is useful in determining whether a firm s strategy has created value. Unlike Porter s competitive forces framework, this view maintains that competitive advantage comes from the and other resources of the firm. a) data b) technology c) information d) systems e) people 7) Critical to the business case is the identification of both and. a) costs, risks b) costs, benefits c) advantages, disadvantages d) benefits, risks e) benefits, detriments 8) These are comprehensive software packages that incorporate all modules needed to run the operations of a business. They should include the following modules: Manufacturing, Accounting, Human resources and Sales. a) BRP systems b) Groupware system c) ERP systems d) TQM systems e) BBB systems 9) are architectures where significant hardware, software and possibly even data elements reside on the Internet. a) Internet-oriented architectures b) TCP/IP architectures c) Web-oriented architectures d) Mobile architectures e) VoIP architectures 10) This is term is defined as the situation when a company s current and emerging business strategy is enabled, supported and not constrained by technology. a) tuned b) alignment c) adjustment d) misalignment e) technologically adjusted 2 / 5

4 Section B: Key terms test questions. (10 questions X 3 = 30 marks) Explain the following key terms with related example which used for information system purpose. 1) Activity-based costing (ABC) 2) Customer relationship management (CRM) 3) Supply chain management (SCM) 4) Business diamond 5) Backsourcing 6) Total cost of ownership 7) Service-oriented architecture (SOA) 8) Business process reengineering 9) Business continuity plan 10) Virtual private network (VPN) Section C. Essay answer of the following questions (Total: 20 marks) 1) Under what conditions would you recommend using each of these funding methods: allocation, chargeback, and corporate budgeting? (10 marks) 2) The make-versus-buy decision is important every time a new application is requested of the IS group. What, in your opinion, are the key reasons an IS organization should make its own systems? What are the key reasons it should buy an application? (10 marks) Section D: Case Study (Total: 30 marks) Sodexho Asia Pacific Sodexho Asia Pacific, a major subsidiary of one of the world s largest food and support services. Sodexho Alliance, provides a wide range of catering, food and management services, and facilities management. Sodexho Asia Pacific employs 20,000 employees in nine countries. It has used a decentralized business model, which gave its managers considerable autonomy to adapt their operations to meet local customer needs. However, the autonomy came with a price, and Sodexho Asia Pacific found that over time information silos were created that made it difficult to communicate across national boundaries. Its processes were adapted to accommodate the information systems and 3 / 5

5 back-office processes of the many different service providers in each country. Further adaptation was required following a series of mergers and acquisitions in the early 2000 s. When Sodexho absorbed these many organizations, it had to design additional systems and middleware to integrate each legacy system with the others. As a result of the decentralization, mergers, and acquisitions, Sodexho Asia Pacific s processes were extremely complex, its information systems were fragmented, and communication across systems was difficult. Even though Sodexho Asia Pacific was very large, it could not leverage the company s overall purchasing power. Nor could its managers respond quickly enough to take advantage of opportunities or make timely decisions. In an industry challenged by its low profit margins, expenditures ballooned as a result of processing inefficiencies and multiple procurement systems. The company knew it needed to take dramatic action. It determined an organization wide integrated system was required to improve information sharing and leverage its purchasing power. We have about 250 contracts with customers in Australia alone, noted Sodexho Asia Pacific s Director of Finance and IS Garen Azoyan in We needed to get more information out of our SAP system about the profitability of each contract, and about how well we are meeting the needs of our customers. In 2004 Sodexho Asia Pacific awarded IBM Global Business Services in Australia a two-phase, multi-million-dollar, five-year outsourcing contract. The first phase provided application system support for remodeling and integrating accounting and financial processes into an existing Australian SAP system. It was developed and delivered using offshore resources in India working in concert with the Sodexho Asia Pacific personnel. The revamped SAP system replaced six different systems in 17 of Sodexho s companies in six Asia Pacific countries. The adoption of the revamped system meant Sodexho Asia Pacific could centralize all its finance efforts. This allows better organization and retrieval of the available information and the management of the finance operations from a single site in Sydney, Australia. Azoyan explained the reasons for the outsourcing arrangement: Sodexho has invested in IBM s consulting and e-business hosting expertise to improve the efficiency of its operations and to maximize its bottom line. We will realize significant financial benefits as well as utilizing better finance and accounting processes. This will improve our ability to respond quickly to changing business conditions, to focus on our clients needs, and to continue improving the quality of daily life our customers. In the second phase of the agreement IBM migrated Sodexho Asia Pacific s SAP infrastructure to an e-business hosting environment that is managed and supported by IBM Global Services. The expanded system was transitioned to IBM s eserver pseries servers. IBM s hosted solution is on a pay-per-user basis that is consistent with Sodexho s contract-based model. That is, it allows Sodexho Asia Pacific to shift its fixed IT costs to variable costs, just as Sodexho tends to do with its customers. 4 / 5

6 Because it is now able to leverage its buying power, Sodexho realized a 3 percent increase in profits within two years. It has also reduced its infrastructure costs by 25 percent, increase in its operational efficiency, and improved organizational decision making. Since undertaking the project Sodexho has reported improvements in the speed of financial and accounting performance. With less focus required on these processes, the company is better able to address the needs of its consumers by shifting their efforts to areas of competencies of its core business skills, enhancing client services, and executing better cost management. Outsourcing has traditionally been associated with the loss of jobs at the source company, however, in the case of Sodexho, not a single job has been lost due to the outsourcing to IBM. The people that were working in the company s finance section have shifted into analytical roles, allowing better business decisions rather than solely processing, as had been the case prior to the outsourcing exercise. For all the successes that have been realized by Sodexho s outsourcing, the implementation has not been without hiccups. Outsourcing presents a large cultural change for any organization; getting the support from employees is paramount for the implementation s success. It was found that the most effective way to gain the support of the employees was to involve them throughout the process. Even now, after the implementation is complete, the company holds two meetings a week to ensure support and maintenance is of the highest quality. 1. How were jobs actually saved by Sodexho's decision to outsource? (5 marks) 2. What are the important factors to consider when deciding whether to outsource a particular part of a business? (5 marks) 3. Describe five advantages that are commonly attributed to outsourcing? Demonstrate how the Sodexho Asia Pacific case illustrates (or does not illustrate) each of these advantages. (10 marks) 4. Why do you think Sodexho decided to offshore to an Indian provider? What do you anticipate were some of the challenges experienced in offshoring to an Indian provider? (5 marks) 5. What steps did Sodexho take to make the outsourcing arrangement a success? (5 marks) / 5