by Michael Arevalo
Objectives:
To discuss comprehensively the significance of the topics in information systems which were reported and discussed last February 22 in the business operation of the firm.
To be able to establish the direct link to the achievement of the organizational goals and cite specific instances to support claims.
DATA RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Data resource management refers to the managerial activity that applies information systems technologies like database management, data warehousing, and other data management tools to the task of managing an organization’s data resources to meet the information needs of their business stakeholders. It refers to the understanding of how data resources are managed in information systems, and how managerial implications of basic concepts and appreciation of database management are analyzed.
Data is a vital organizational resource, which needs to be managed like other important business assets. Most organizations could not survive or succeed without quality data about their internal operations and external environment. Managers need to practice Data Resource Management a managerial activity that applies information systems technology and management tools to the task of managing an organization's data resources to meet the information needs of business users.
Foundation Data Elements
A hierarchy of several levels of data has been devised to differentiate between the most simple groupings or elements of data, and more complex data elements. Data are logically organized into:
• Character
A character is the most basic logical data element. It consists of a single alphabetic, numeric, or other symbol.
• Field
A field consists of a grouping of characters. A data field represents an attribute (a characteristic or quality) of some entity (object, person, place, or event).
• Record
A record represents a collection of attributes that describe an entity.
• File
A group of related records is known as a data file, or table. Files are frequently classified by the application for which they are primarily used (employee files). Files are also classified by their permanence - (l) Transaction files contain records of all transactions occurring during a period, (2) Master files contain a permanent record.
• Database
Is an integrated collection of logically related records or files. A database consolidates records previously stored in separate files into a common pool of data records that provides data for many applications. The data stored in a database is independent of the application programs using it and of the type of secondary storage devices on which it is stored.
The Database Management Approach
The development of databases and database management software is the foundation of modern methods of managing organizational data. In the Database Management Approach, data records are consolidated into databases that can be accessed by many different application programs. Meanwhile, the Database Management Software serves as a software interface between users and databases. Thus, database management involves the use of database management software to control how databases are created, interrogated and maintained to provide information needed by end users and their organizations. The database management approach involves three basic activities:
1) Updating and maintaining common databases to reflect new business transactions and other events requiring changes to an organization's records.
2) Providing information needed for each end user's application by using application programs that share the data in common databases.
3) Providing an inquiry/response and reporting capability.
Benefits and Limitations of Database Management:
The database management approach provides managerial end users with several important benefits such as (1) reduce the duplication of data, (2) integrate data so that they can be accessed by multiple programs and users, (3) programs are not dependent on the format of the data and the type of secondary storage hardware being used, (4) users are provided with an inquiry/response and reporting capability that allows them to easily obtain information they need without having to write computer programs, (5) computer programming is simplified, because programs are not dependent on either the logical format of the data or their physical storage location, (6) integrity and security of the data stored in databases can be increased, since access to data and modification of the database are controlled by database management system software, a data dictionary, and a database administrator function.
The limitations of database management arise from:
l. Its increased technological complexity.
2. Development a large database and installing a DBMS can be difficult and expensive.
3. More hardware capability is required, since storage requirements for the organization's data, overhead control data, and the DBMS programs are greater.
4. Longer processing times may result from high-volume transaction processing applications since an extra layer of software (the DBMS) exists between application programs and the operating system.
5. If an organization relies on centralized databases, their vulnerability to errors, fraud, & failures are increased.
6. If an organization relies on distributed databases problems of inconsistency of data can arise.
Database Administration
Database administration is an important data resource management function responsible for the proper use of database management technology. Database administration has more operational and technical responsibilities than other data resource management functions. This includes responsibility for:
l. Developing and maintaining the organization's data dictionary
2. Designing and monitoring the performance of databases
3. Enforcing standards for use and security.
Data Planning:
Data planning is a corporate planning and analysis function that focuses on data resource management. It includes the responsibility for developing an overall data architecture for the firm's data resources that ties in with the firm's strategic mission and plans, and the objectives and processes of its business units. Data planning is a major component of an organization's strategic planning process. It shows that an organization has made a formal commitment to long-range planning for the strategic use and management of its data resources.
Data Administration:
Data administration is another data resource management function. It involves the:
l. Establishment and enforcement of policies and procedures for managing data as a strategic corporate resource.
2. Collection, storage, and dissemination of all types of data are administered in such a way that data become a standardized resource available to all end users in the organization.
3. Focuses on the planning and control of data in support of an organization's business functions and strategic business objectives
4. Establishment of a data planning activity for the organization.
5. Developing policies and set standards for corporate database design, processing, and security arrangements, and to select database management and data dictionary software.
APPLICATION OF THE DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Established companies (and government agencies) with poor information architecture and a lack of an overall vision for the use of information technology, will probably never "start-over" when it comes to how they manage data and knowledge. It is very important that the business is able to make use of an effective database management system to aid the business processes. The real importance of the database is more than just reliable data storage, but company security and assurance that the business operation will be fast and easy. The records of the customers’ profile for instance serve as the company’s basis in each transaction and thus, further make conducting business easier.
Data and knowledge management specialist have very important jobs and they should start being recognized as major contributors to their company's ability to be profitable and successful.
For instance, it has been a known fact that business unit managers report their financial performance to senior management regularly, usually monthly. The formal report consists of a comparison of actual revenues and costs and also the budgeted amounts. The differences, or variances, between these two amounts can be analyzed at several levels of detail. This analysis identifies the causes of the variance from budget profit and the amount attributed to each cause. Although it may seem be true that some companies focus on the performance by comparing the actual with the budget, competent operating manages nevertheless must adopt a continuous improvement or kaizen mentality; a company therefore should not assume the optimal performance as “the budget”.
A clear analysis of the budget is facilitated by database system. As such, budget formulation is justified through comparison with previous budgets reflecting on the company database. Variances are analyzed to be able to see the company’s efficiency in allocating its resources to ultimately meet its objectives. One application of this way of control is with regards to company’s with more than one product categories. Each category or product line is analyzed in the context of its cost of production, the variable and fixed cost plus other expenses, the unit cost, the level of supply and raw materials, the labor force, the selling price and the prevailing market price of the product in the same industry. The company analyzes by putting emphasis in each product categories and the factors that are vital in its selling and production. Each product are then compared with the data of those unrelated product lines to effectively analyze the performance of each. A company could not say that it is having an income of 50M when in fact one of its product lines is at net loss and just being compensated by the income of those other products of the company. Therefore, the company could have reached higher income if only it has better control over the product that is of net loss. That is where management control comes in.
Likewise, database system facilitates the record-keeping of essential data, one of which is the data regarding customer profile. A company must be able to keep records of potential customers and past customers. This is done to assess the order taking process, the efficiency of marketing campaigns that draw customers to place orders and the overall company performance. Market analysis and security, anticipation of possible complaints as to services and products purchased and of course, the general record of each customer’s purchases per unit of time, are also considerable factors.
As to goals, database system enhances the company performance that leads to better pursuance of the company goals. Company growth is better attained when the entire business process is backed by reliable control systems in different areas of the business environment- internal and external. Both short-term and long-term goals are easily attained when an effective control system, such as the database system, is used and perfectly facilitated. Competition is no longer just about who has got a better marketing campaign, better image, and better products. Today, the scope of competition lies in the internal processes being implored by the company. The ones with more effective and advanced process stand at a greater advantage. Thus, today, the efficiency of the company lies on effective control.
E-Business
E-business refers to the use of the Internet and other networks and information technologies to support the business. This involves cross-functional E-business systems and functional E-business System. Under Cross Functional E-business system, there are:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)- a system that serves as a framework to integrate and automate many of the business process that must be accomplished within the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, accounting, finance and human resources function of the business.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)- used information technology to create functional system that integrates many of the customers serving processes in sales, marketing, and product services that interact with a company customer.
.Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)- the software enables the users to model the business processes involved in the interaction that should occur between business applications. It provides middleware that performs data conversion and coordination, application communication and messaging service.
Supply Chain Management (SCM)- it is the interrelationships with other businesses needed to build and sell a product make up a network of a business relationship.
Transaction Processing system (TPS)- a system that process data resulting from the occurrence of business transactions such as sales, purchases, deposits, withdrawals, refund and payments,
Functional E-business System
It is a variety of types of information systems such as transaction processing, management information, decision support, and others to support:
Marketing Systems- the business function of marketing is concerned with the planning, promotion and sales of existing products existing in the market, and the development of new products and new markets to better serve present and potential customers.
Manufacturing System- support the production/operation function that includes all activities concerned with the planning and control of the processes producing goods and services.
Human Resource Management (HRM)- involves the recruitment, placement, evaluation, compensation and development of the employees of an organization.
A company with an electronic business system related to supply chain management is a company capable of fast assessment of the supplier capability to render supplies at any point in time, the lead time, the quality of services, and some other flaws related in any of the whole process of order, delivery and production.
E-commerce
E-commerce refers to the use of the internet to market a product or services. It is usually seen on the sides of the webpages in the World Wide Web. Today, a huge number of companies are resorting to the use of the internet to advertise their products because statistics prove that more and more people in the population are already making use of the internet. Thus, Internet is the cheapest and fastest way to capture the market and relay company message. The objectives of the most e-commerce project are the following:
1. To maximize the use of the web to spread the information about the product.
2. To make use of the internet as a medium to reach out to consumers and to acquire product awareness.
3. To make use of the proposed website as the major instrument for trading to the global market
4. To make use of the site as a marketing strategy- an advantageous way to overcome its present local and international competitors.
5. To eventually conquer the market through good website- pleasant appearance, and astonishing services.
E-commerce and The Internet
The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW).
The low cost and nearly instantaneous sharing of ideas, knowledge, and skills has made collaborative work dramatically easier. Not only can a group cheaply communicate and test, but the wide reach of the Internet allows such groups to easily form in the first place, even among niche interests.
The Internet has now become a large market for companies; some of the biggest companies today have grown by taking advantage of the efficient nature of low-cost advertising and commerce through the Internet, also known as e-commerce. It is the fastest way to spread information to a vast number of people simultaneously. The Internet has also subsequently revolutionized shopping—for example; a person can order a CD online and receive it in the mail within a couple of days, or download it directly in some cases. The Internet has also greatly facilitated personalized marketing which allows a company to market a product to a specific person or a specific group of people more so than any other advertising medium.
Examples of personalized marketing include online communities such as MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Facebook and others which thousands of Internet users join to advertise themselves and make friends online. Many of these users are young teens and adolescents ranging from 13 to 25 years old. In turn, when they advertise themselves they advertise interests and hobbies, which online marketing companies can use as information as to what those users will purchase online, and advertise their own companies' products to those users.
E-commerce on Friendster.com, a Social Network Site
The Friendster mania has invaded the Philippines with a bang. In the past decade, it has grown rapidly capturing the youth market and the young adults. The site, which is a social network in nature, promotes communication among friends even across the various parts of the world. The success of friendster.com in the Philippine context is attributed to the inherent characteristics of the Filipinos of being highly sociable, even in the virtual sense. The massive entry of technology, particularly with the Internet age, has been fully embraced by the Filipinos as it gives genuine satisfaction once a person is able to reach out to his friends by instant messaging, uploading new sets of pictures in a personal album, publishing blogs, customizing page with different graphics, videos, and other “CSS based html codes”, and also linking the webpage with the other sites. The Friendster mania indeed has been so true in the Filipino community.
Why do people choose Friendster?
There are several reasons why Friendster has grown so massive within the country. Let me site a few:
1. It came at the right time. With the invention of Internet, and even with the invention of the first E-mail program, Hotmail.com, by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith in 1996, the world was able to take a glimpse with the amazing things the Internet can do. The development comes after the limited capacity of the Intranet, a network of computers, especially one using World Wide Web conventions, accessible only to authorized users such as those within a company. The Internet became wider in scope and was able to achieve greater advantage as it makes information access faster and easier. The Internet phenomena has reached the Philippines not long ago), and was able to capture wide array of potentialities. The first attempt was not that successful since there were several constraints as to its use and practicality. With the limited technological capacity of the computer and some equipment in that time, the connection was relatively poor, making Internet access less productive. Aside from such, only a few numbers of Filipinos can afford to purchase equipments related to Internet usage such as the modem, landline connections, etc. In addition, only a few have the knowledge when it comes to Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), World Wide Web URL and domain names, and other essential information the internet access.
Friendster.com came perfectly at the time when little by little, more and more Filipinos were learning to appreciate the amazing capacities of the Internet. Aside from Internet search engines Yahoo.com and Google.com, it paved way to the understanding of the Internet. It was amongst the first website offering social networking, whose nature is very much in line with the core values of the Filipinos of being socially attached.
2. It promotes social connection. The very principle behind the establishment of Friendster is making people feel that they are not alone and that they can easily communicate with friends whenever they want and wherever they are. Friendster lessens the geographical gap, thus, making it easy for people to feel the comfort of having their friends stand beside them with a simple click of the button. It also opens doors in meeting new friends, making them upload photos in a person’s account, making testimonials (aka comments) with the person who owns the site, creating bulletin or posts that can be viewed by the list of friends a person has and many others. The social concern of the site is limitless.
3. The site aims for continuous improvement. The site aims for developing new strategies for continuous improvement. A year ago, the site rearranged the homepage setting. Just recently, the site also implored the web upgrade with the emoticons, “addicted to” box, ‘I’m a fan of” side bar, and many others. Today, the most recent addition to the wide array of services Friendster offers is the FRIENDSTER TO GO, wherein a person can actually
4. The management of a personalized site is easy. With Friendster, it is easy to manage the account. The captions are easy to be understood. The site provides layout premiums for starters (things that do not require knowledge with html codes and CSS codes). Once the form of account information has been filled out, the rest would be easy. Searching for friends and adding them far easier.
5. Has linked with other sites providing certain services. The site is linked with Photobucket.com, and other slideshow services. A person can even create a slideshow of all his Friendster photos without manually uploading each picture in the slideshow presentation. Once the html codes (embedded) are generated, the person just has to copy and paste it to his Friendster webpage. It’s as easy as that.
Friendster also has linked with Friendster-layouts.com, Pimpwebpage.com and other sites providing custom-made templates. Glitter-graphics also provide variety of pictures, GIF files, customized moving graphics, and even backgrounds. These can be posted with the Friendster webpage as a form of design, and may even be used in creating personalized comments with friends.
6. Brings a lot of satisfaction. Friendster provides a lot of satisfaction for some people It gives joy whenever there’s a new friendster request, or new comment post on a person’s account. Some are thrilled with a simple message from a long-lost friend, or from a loved one who have been away for a long time. It brings relief to some believers of horoscope who were guided in their everyday activities because of the horoscope feature of Friendster. And that’s the power of friendster. Now, it’s more than just a site.
Friendster Versus other Social Network sites
Multiply.com
Multiply.com is also a social network site, but its focus is not highly on webpage customization, and personal comments. . A person can upgrade his account without paying anything, thus, he can rearrange the site setup. Comments are given with every post of the individual. The objective is for one to share music, pictures, sentiments and opinions (through blog posts) and calendar schedule. Once a person posts an entry all his contacts will be notified and has a chance to comment on the entry. The purpose therefore is to share whatever a person feels and not the person himself as a network. Another good thing about multiply is that once the site is closed and a person is logged in, the account automatically logs out as well. There is no risk that other people can access the account. This is contrary to Friendster because in Friendster, you have to make sure that you really have logged out, or else that next user of the computer, once he typed in friendter.com in the address bar, can actually access your account and make a mess out of it.
Hi5.com
Hi5.com is another social network site but has a really complex structure. The updates on new services is relatively low, in fact, improvement could hardly be seen. The whole homepage bar is colored white and could not be customized. The webpage for profile can neither be customized. There were a few templates, though, but it is so plain and less attractive.
Pinoyster.com
Perhaps the greatest failure in all social network sites I know, Pinoyster.com has had a chat room, mobile services and adding of friends. However, it was not as effective as Friendster. The site was gone a few months before and I think it no longer exists. I like the color though.. Black and dark blue. Yeah!
Myspace.com
If there’s one thing that matches the effectively of Friendster, it would be myspace. It is a social network site predominantly used in the United States. Although there are lesser number of Filipinos engaged in Myspace than in Friendster, the site offers a lot of advantages. There are a number of customized webpage to choose from. Also, there are a lot of people who could entertain you, mostly are foreigners. The only risk is if you would have a sexual addict as a friend or a pervert (sorry for the term.lol)
Blogger.com
This is also a social network site but its focus is on blog entries. Searching friends is quite difficult because a person can actually change his username (reflected on the site URL) whenever he wants to. Adding friends is neither possible. The only good thing about the site is the fact that you can share your ideas and people could comment on it with whatever they want.
i.ph
This is one of the latest sites I have discovered. The site offers a great deal of advantages. It gives a free webpage for everyone where one can actually post whatever they want. The problem lies on the customization. There are a lot of toolbars that a person needs to familiarize with. Customization may be possible but it necessitates not just creativity but complete understanding with the navigation toolbars. The site settings and setup could not be rearranged. Payment is necessary for premium accounts and the space for advertisement should be displayed as part of the terms of agreement. The space for each post is limited and cannot be enlarged to maximize the space. Photo upload is neither easy.
Tagged.com
This is also one of the latest additions in the social network sites. The good thing about the site is that it is linked to the email account and whenever a message is received, or a friend update has been done, it will send an email to notify its member. With the link as part of the email, a person can directly see his Tagged Webpage without really going to the process of logging in. There are wide array of predefined templates to choose from and personal comments are possible to do.
Freewebs.com
The site offers free and premium accounts for personalized webpage. Basically, a person can do anything with the webpage. The risk however is when it comes to promotion of the site. The site does not promote adding of friends, thus, it all lies on the web developer to think of strategies for people to visit the site. A person can advertise to other site but this usually necessitates a large amount of investment. There are a lot of free upgrade services such as music, mouse pointers, graphics, background, etc. Photo upload is possible.
SMS.ac
SMS.ac is a social network providing free mobile messaging to contacts. The structure is complex and most of the time does not really work because even though the mobile carrier in the Philippines can be chosen as part of account information, messages cannot be received by the recipient. Aside from such, the site is infested by people characterized by exposing extreme nudity and vulgar wordings on their sites.
A Business Perspective: Why advertise on Friendster?
In the Philippines, large part of the population has invaded the internet world. More and more Filipinos are hooked with Friendster.com. As more and more present members add more and more people on their friend lists, the potential of Friendster as the medium to advertise company products becomes bigger.
E-commerce on Friendster is now predominantly seen on the side bar of members’ homepages, profile site, blog page, etc. The mutual connection of the founders and owners of Friendster with individual and full-grown business establishments become so strong that they become partners in improving the services of Friendster. These innovations on the services make the site more capable of company hosting and assistance in business marketing.
Current Advertisers on Friendster: A Personal Observation
The site aims for developing new strategies for continuous improvement through catering to the needs of not just individual Friendster account owners but also to the needs of the businesses at large. Recently, it has advertised Filipino companies along the site. Globe Telecoms, Smart wireless, online purchasing of some items (bundles of roses during valentines), Filipino Films including CD compilations and DVDs, and many others are some of these. It also advertises international ad campaigns for weight loss, and animal protection and ethical treatment (PETA). It also advertises foreign movies and features other business sites.
Conclusion
Management control is indeed of great importance. It is essential that a company must focus on its control systems since it is the key towards attaining the goals set by the company. Through management control, the company is able maximize its resources and detect problems that would hinder company growth. That is the true essence of the management control process.
A company must always be concerned in every part of the business processes. It is very essential that every division must have constant update and be given sufficient attention as to its entire function. An effective management control considers all aspects of the managerial processes, applications, and strategies by analyzing all possible areas that can further be improved. It is essential that the firm is able to effectively make use of its resources to reach the goals to continuous improvement and profit maximization. Analysis of the company performance must show a reliable data that depicts the company’s utilization of assets, the input and output exchanges, labor force participation, and other internal and external activities. Through this, all aspects are seen independently and as a whole to detect areas that needs ample amount of control.
For instance, in period since current strategic plan was prepared, the organization has made capital investment decisions. These decisions usually entails large sum of money and are long-term based, The process of approving proposed capital investments does not follow a set of timetable; senior managers make the decisions as soon the need for them is identified. Planners incorporate in the strategic plan the implications of these decisions, as well as assumptions and guidelines about external forces such as inflation, internal policies, and product pricing.
Objectives:
To discuss comprehensively the significance of the topics in information systems which were reported and discussed last February 22 in the business operation of the firm.
To be able to establish the direct link to the achievement of the organizational goals and cite specific instances to support claims.
DATA RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Data resource management refers to the managerial activity that applies information systems technologies like database management, data warehousing, and other data management tools to the task of managing an organization’s data resources to meet the information needs of their business stakeholders. It refers to the understanding of how data resources are managed in information systems, and how managerial implications of basic concepts and appreciation of database management are analyzed.
Data is a vital organizational resource, which needs to be managed like other important business assets. Most organizations could not survive or succeed without quality data about their internal operations and external environment. Managers need to practice Data Resource Management a managerial activity that applies information systems technology and management tools to the task of managing an organization's data resources to meet the information needs of business users.
Foundation Data Elements
A hierarchy of several levels of data has been devised to differentiate between the most simple groupings or elements of data, and more complex data elements. Data are logically organized into:
• Character
A character is the most basic logical data element. It consists of a single alphabetic, numeric, or other symbol.
• Field
A field consists of a grouping of characters. A data field represents an attribute (a characteristic or quality) of some entity (object, person, place, or event).
• Record
A record represents a collection of attributes that describe an entity.
• File
A group of related records is known as a data file, or table. Files are frequently classified by the application for which they are primarily used (employee files). Files are also classified by their permanence - (l) Transaction files contain records of all transactions occurring during a period, (2) Master files contain a permanent record.
• Database
Is an integrated collection of logically related records or files. A database consolidates records previously stored in separate files into a common pool of data records that provides data for many applications. The data stored in a database is independent of the application programs using it and of the type of secondary storage devices on which it is stored.
The Database Management Approach
The development of databases and database management software is the foundation of modern methods of managing organizational data. In the Database Management Approach, data records are consolidated into databases that can be accessed by many different application programs. Meanwhile, the Database Management Software serves as a software interface between users and databases. Thus, database management involves the use of database management software to control how databases are created, interrogated and maintained to provide information needed by end users and their organizations. The database management approach involves three basic activities:
1) Updating and maintaining common databases to reflect new business transactions and other events requiring changes to an organization's records.
2) Providing information needed for each end user's application by using application programs that share the data in common databases.
3) Providing an inquiry/response and reporting capability.
Benefits and Limitations of Database Management:
The database management approach provides managerial end users with several important benefits such as (1) reduce the duplication of data, (2) integrate data so that they can be accessed by multiple programs and users, (3) programs are not dependent on the format of the data and the type of secondary storage hardware being used, (4) users are provided with an inquiry/response and reporting capability that allows them to easily obtain information they need without having to write computer programs, (5) computer programming is simplified, because programs are not dependent on either the logical format of the data or their physical storage location, (6) integrity and security of the data stored in databases can be increased, since access to data and modification of the database are controlled by database management system software, a data dictionary, and a database administrator function.
The limitations of database management arise from:
l. Its increased technological complexity.
2. Development a large database and installing a DBMS can be difficult and expensive.
3. More hardware capability is required, since storage requirements for the organization's data, overhead control data, and the DBMS programs are greater.
4. Longer processing times may result from high-volume transaction processing applications since an extra layer of software (the DBMS) exists between application programs and the operating system.
5. If an organization relies on centralized databases, their vulnerability to errors, fraud, & failures are increased.
6. If an organization relies on distributed databases problems of inconsistency of data can arise.
Database Administration
Database administration is an important data resource management function responsible for the proper use of database management technology. Database administration has more operational and technical responsibilities than other data resource management functions. This includes responsibility for:
l. Developing and maintaining the organization's data dictionary
2. Designing and monitoring the performance of databases
3. Enforcing standards for use and security.
Data Planning:
Data planning is a corporate planning and analysis function that focuses on data resource management. It includes the responsibility for developing an overall data architecture for the firm's data resources that ties in with the firm's strategic mission and plans, and the objectives and processes of its business units. Data planning is a major component of an organization's strategic planning process. It shows that an organization has made a formal commitment to long-range planning for the strategic use and management of its data resources.
Data Administration:
Data administration is another data resource management function. It involves the:
l. Establishment and enforcement of policies and procedures for managing data as a strategic corporate resource.
2. Collection, storage, and dissemination of all types of data are administered in such a way that data become a standardized resource available to all end users in the organization.
3. Focuses on the planning and control of data in support of an organization's business functions and strategic business objectives
4. Establishment of a data planning activity for the organization.
5. Developing policies and set standards for corporate database design, processing, and security arrangements, and to select database management and data dictionary software.
APPLICATION OF THE DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Established companies (and government agencies) with poor information architecture and a lack of an overall vision for the use of information technology, will probably never "start-over" when it comes to how they manage data and knowledge. It is very important that the business is able to make use of an effective database management system to aid the business processes. The real importance of the database is more than just reliable data storage, but company security and assurance that the business operation will be fast and easy. The records of the customers’ profile for instance serve as the company’s basis in each transaction and thus, further make conducting business easier.
Data and knowledge management specialist have very important jobs and they should start being recognized as major contributors to their company's ability to be profitable and successful.
For instance, it has been a known fact that business unit managers report their financial performance to senior management regularly, usually monthly. The formal report consists of a comparison of actual revenues and costs and also the budgeted amounts. The differences, or variances, between these two amounts can be analyzed at several levels of detail. This analysis identifies the causes of the variance from budget profit and the amount attributed to each cause. Although it may seem be true that some companies focus on the performance by comparing the actual with the budget, competent operating manages nevertheless must adopt a continuous improvement or kaizen mentality; a company therefore should not assume the optimal performance as “the budget”.
A clear analysis of the budget is facilitated by database system. As such, budget formulation is justified through comparison with previous budgets reflecting on the company database. Variances are analyzed to be able to see the company’s efficiency in allocating its resources to ultimately meet its objectives. One application of this way of control is with regards to company’s with more than one product categories. Each category or product line is analyzed in the context of its cost of production, the variable and fixed cost plus other expenses, the unit cost, the level of supply and raw materials, the labor force, the selling price and the prevailing market price of the product in the same industry. The company analyzes by putting emphasis in each product categories and the factors that are vital in its selling and production. Each product are then compared with the data of those unrelated product lines to effectively analyze the performance of each. A company could not say that it is having an income of 50M when in fact one of its product lines is at net loss and just being compensated by the income of those other products of the company. Therefore, the company could have reached higher income if only it has better control over the product that is of net loss. That is where management control comes in.
Likewise, database system facilitates the record-keeping of essential data, one of which is the data regarding customer profile. A company must be able to keep records of potential customers and past customers. This is done to assess the order taking process, the efficiency of marketing campaigns that draw customers to place orders and the overall company performance. Market analysis and security, anticipation of possible complaints as to services and products purchased and of course, the general record of each customer’s purchases per unit of time, are also considerable factors.
As to goals, database system enhances the company performance that leads to better pursuance of the company goals. Company growth is better attained when the entire business process is backed by reliable control systems in different areas of the business environment- internal and external. Both short-term and long-term goals are easily attained when an effective control system, such as the database system, is used and perfectly facilitated. Competition is no longer just about who has got a better marketing campaign, better image, and better products. Today, the scope of competition lies in the internal processes being implored by the company. The ones with more effective and advanced process stand at a greater advantage. Thus, today, the efficiency of the company lies on effective control.
E-Business
E-business refers to the use of the Internet and other networks and information technologies to support the business. This involves cross-functional E-business systems and functional E-business System. Under Cross Functional E-business system, there are:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)- a system that serves as a framework to integrate and automate many of the business process that must be accomplished within the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, accounting, finance and human resources function of the business.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)- used information technology to create functional system that integrates many of the customers serving processes in sales, marketing, and product services that interact with a company customer.
.Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)- the software enables the users to model the business processes involved in the interaction that should occur between business applications. It provides middleware that performs data conversion and coordination, application communication and messaging service.
Supply Chain Management (SCM)- it is the interrelationships with other businesses needed to build and sell a product make up a network of a business relationship.
Transaction Processing system (TPS)- a system that process data resulting from the occurrence of business transactions such as sales, purchases, deposits, withdrawals, refund and payments,
Functional E-business System
It is a variety of types of information systems such as transaction processing, management information, decision support, and others to support:
Marketing Systems- the business function of marketing is concerned with the planning, promotion and sales of existing products existing in the market, and the development of new products and new markets to better serve present and potential customers.
Manufacturing System- support the production/operation function that includes all activities concerned with the planning and control of the processes producing goods and services.
Human Resource Management (HRM)- involves the recruitment, placement, evaluation, compensation and development of the employees of an organization.
A company with an electronic business system related to supply chain management is a company capable of fast assessment of the supplier capability to render supplies at any point in time, the lead time, the quality of services, and some other flaws related in any of the whole process of order, delivery and production.
E-commerce
E-commerce refers to the use of the internet to market a product or services. It is usually seen on the sides of the webpages in the World Wide Web. Today, a huge number of companies are resorting to the use of the internet to advertise their products because statistics prove that more and more people in the population are already making use of the internet. Thus, Internet is the cheapest and fastest way to capture the market and relay company message. The objectives of the most e-commerce project are the following:
1. To maximize the use of the web to spread the information about the product.
2. To make use of the internet as a medium to reach out to consumers and to acquire product awareness.
3. To make use of the proposed website as the major instrument for trading to the global market
4. To make use of the site as a marketing strategy- an advantageous way to overcome its present local and international competitors.
5. To eventually conquer the market through good website- pleasant appearance, and astonishing services.
E-commerce and The Internet
The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW).
The low cost and nearly instantaneous sharing of ideas, knowledge, and skills has made collaborative work dramatically easier. Not only can a group cheaply communicate and test, but the wide reach of the Internet allows such groups to easily form in the first place, even among niche interests.
The Internet has now become a large market for companies; some of the biggest companies today have grown by taking advantage of the efficient nature of low-cost advertising and commerce through the Internet, also known as e-commerce. It is the fastest way to spread information to a vast number of people simultaneously. The Internet has also subsequently revolutionized shopping—for example; a person can order a CD online and receive it in the mail within a couple of days, or download it directly in some cases. The Internet has also greatly facilitated personalized marketing which allows a company to market a product to a specific person or a specific group of people more so than any other advertising medium.
Examples of personalized marketing include online communities such as MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Facebook and others which thousands of Internet users join to advertise themselves and make friends online. Many of these users are young teens and adolescents ranging from 13 to 25 years old. In turn, when they advertise themselves they advertise interests and hobbies, which online marketing companies can use as information as to what those users will purchase online, and advertise their own companies' products to those users.
E-commerce on Friendster.com, a Social Network Site
The Friendster mania has invaded the Philippines with a bang. In the past decade, it has grown rapidly capturing the youth market and the young adults. The site, which is a social network in nature, promotes communication among friends even across the various parts of the world. The success of friendster.com in the Philippine context is attributed to the inherent characteristics of the Filipinos of being highly sociable, even in the virtual sense. The massive entry of technology, particularly with the Internet age, has been fully embraced by the Filipinos as it gives genuine satisfaction once a person is able to reach out to his friends by instant messaging, uploading new sets of pictures in a personal album, publishing blogs, customizing page with different graphics, videos, and other “CSS based html codes”, and also linking the webpage with the other sites. The Friendster mania indeed has been so true in the Filipino community.
Why do people choose Friendster?
There are several reasons why Friendster has grown so massive within the country. Let me site a few:
1. It came at the right time. With the invention of Internet, and even with the invention of the first E-mail program, Hotmail.com, by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith in 1996, the world was able to take a glimpse with the amazing things the Internet can do. The development comes after the limited capacity of the Intranet, a network of computers, especially one using World Wide Web conventions, accessible only to authorized users such as those within a company. The Internet became wider in scope and was able to achieve greater advantage as it makes information access faster and easier. The Internet phenomena has reached the Philippines not long ago), and was able to capture wide array of potentialities. The first attempt was not that successful since there were several constraints as to its use and practicality. With the limited technological capacity of the computer and some equipment in that time, the connection was relatively poor, making Internet access less productive. Aside from such, only a few numbers of Filipinos can afford to purchase equipments related to Internet usage such as the modem, landline connections, etc. In addition, only a few have the knowledge when it comes to Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), World Wide Web URL and domain names, and other essential information the internet access.
Friendster.com came perfectly at the time when little by little, more and more Filipinos were learning to appreciate the amazing capacities of the Internet. Aside from Internet search engines Yahoo.com and Google.com, it paved way to the understanding of the Internet. It was amongst the first website offering social networking, whose nature is very much in line with the core values of the Filipinos of being socially attached.
2. It promotes social connection. The very principle behind the establishment of Friendster is making people feel that they are not alone and that they can easily communicate with friends whenever they want and wherever they are. Friendster lessens the geographical gap, thus, making it easy for people to feel the comfort of having their friends stand beside them with a simple click of the button. It also opens doors in meeting new friends, making them upload photos in a person’s account, making testimonials (aka comments) with the person who owns the site, creating bulletin or posts that can be viewed by the list of friends a person has and many others. The social concern of the site is limitless.
3. The site aims for continuous improvement. The site aims for developing new strategies for continuous improvement. A year ago, the site rearranged the homepage setting. Just recently, the site also implored the web upgrade with the emoticons, “addicted to” box, ‘I’m a fan of” side bar, and many others. Today, the most recent addition to the wide array of services Friendster offers is the FRIENDSTER TO GO, wherein a person can actually
4. The management of a personalized site is easy. With Friendster, it is easy to manage the account. The captions are easy to be understood. The site provides layout premiums for starters (things that do not require knowledge with html codes and CSS codes). Once the form of account information has been filled out, the rest would be easy. Searching for friends and adding them far easier.
5. Has linked with other sites providing certain services. The site is linked with Photobucket.com, and other slideshow services. A person can even create a slideshow of all his Friendster photos without manually uploading each picture in the slideshow presentation. Once the html codes (embedded) are generated, the person just has to copy and paste it to his Friendster webpage. It’s as easy as that.
Friendster also has linked with Friendster-layouts.com, Pimpwebpage.com and other sites providing custom-made templates. Glitter-graphics also provide variety of pictures, GIF files, customized moving graphics, and even backgrounds. These can be posted with the Friendster webpage as a form of design, and may even be used in creating personalized comments with friends.
6. Brings a lot of satisfaction. Friendster provides a lot of satisfaction for some people It gives joy whenever there’s a new friendster request, or new comment post on a person’s account. Some are thrilled with a simple message from a long-lost friend, or from a loved one who have been away for a long time. It brings relief to some believers of horoscope who were guided in their everyday activities because of the horoscope feature of Friendster. And that’s the power of friendster. Now, it’s more than just a site.
Friendster Versus other Social Network sites
Multiply.com
Multiply.com is also a social network site, but its focus is not highly on webpage customization, and personal comments. . A person can upgrade his account without paying anything, thus, he can rearrange the site setup. Comments are given with every post of the individual. The objective is for one to share music, pictures, sentiments and opinions (through blog posts) and calendar schedule. Once a person posts an entry all his contacts will be notified and has a chance to comment on the entry. The purpose therefore is to share whatever a person feels and not the person himself as a network. Another good thing about multiply is that once the site is closed and a person is logged in, the account automatically logs out as well. There is no risk that other people can access the account. This is contrary to Friendster because in Friendster, you have to make sure that you really have logged out, or else that next user of the computer, once he typed in friendter.com in the address bar, can actually access your account and make a mess out of it.
Hi5.com
Hi5.com is another social network site but has a really complex structure. The updates on new services is relatively low, in fact, improvement could hardly be seen. The whole homepage bar is colored white and could not be customized. The webpage for profile can neither be customized. There were a few templates, though, but it is so plain and less attractive.
Pinoyster.com
Perhaps the greatest failure in all social network sites I know, Pinoyster.com has had a chat room, mobile services and adding of friends. However, it was not as effective as Friendster. The site was gone a few months before and I think it no longer exists. I like the color though.. Black and dark blue. Yeah!
Myspace.com
If there’s one thing that matches the effectively of Friendster, it would be myspace. It is a social network site predominantly used in the United States. Although there are lesser number of Filipinos engaged in Myspace than in Friendster, the site offers a lot of advantages. There are a number of customized webpage to choose from. Also, there are a lot of people who could entertain you, mostly are foreigners. The only risk is if you would have a sexual addict as a friend or a pervert (sorry for the term.lol)
Blogger.com
This is also a social network site but its focus is on blog entries. Searching friends is quite difficult because a person can actually change his username (reflected on the site URL) whenever he wants to. Adding friends is neither possible. The only good thing about the site is the fact that you can share your ideas and people could comment on it with whatever they want.
i.ph
This is one of the latest sites I have discovered. The site offers a great deal of advantages. It gives a free webpage for everyone where one can actually post whatever they want. The problem lies on the customization. There are a lot of toolbars that a person needs to familiarize with. Customization may be possible but it necessitates not just creativity but complete understanding with the navigation toolbars. The site settings and setup could not be rearranged. Payment is necessary for premium accounts and the space for advertisement should be displayed as part of the terms of agreement. The space for each post is limited and cannot be enlarged to maximize the space. Photo upload is neither easy.
Tagged.com
This is also one of the latest additions in the social network sites. The good thing about the site is that it is linked to the email account and whenever a message is received, or a friend update has been done, it will send an email to notify its member. With the link as part of the email, a person can directly see his Tagged Webpage without really going to the process of logging in. There are wide array of predefined templates to choose from and personal comments are possible to do.
Freewebs.com
The site offers free and premium accounts for personalized webpage. Basically, a person can do anything with the webpage. The risk however is when it comes to promotion of the site. The site does not promote adding of friends, thus, it all lies on the web developer to think of strategies for people to visit the site. A person can advertise to other site but this usually necessitates a large amount of investment. There are a lot of free upgrade services such as music, mouse pointers, graphics, background, etc. Photo upload is possible.
SMS.ac
SMS.ac is a social network providing free mobile messaging to contacts. The structure is complex and most of the time does not really work because even though the mobile carrier in the Philippines can be chosen as part of account information, messages cannot be received by the recipient. Aside from such, the site is infested by people characterized by exposing extreme nudity and vulgar wordings on their sites.
A Business Perspective: Why advertise on Friendster?
In the Philippines, large part of the population has invaded the internet world. More and more Filipinos are hooked with Friendster.com. As more and more present members add more and more people on their friend lists, the potential of Friendster as the medium to advertise company products becomes bigger.
E-commerce on Friendster is now predominantly seen on the side bar of members’ homepages, profile site, blog page, etc. The mutual connection of the founders and owners of Friendster with individual and full-grown business establishments become so strong that they become partners in improving the services of Friendster. These innovations on the services make the site more capable of company hosting and assistance in business marketing.
Current Advertisers on Friendster: A Personal Observation
The site aims for developing new strategies for continuous improvement through catering to the needs of not just individual Friendster account owners but also to the needs of the businesses at large. Recently, it has advertised Filipino companies along the site. Globe Telecoms, Smart wireless, online purchasing of some items (bundles of roses during valentines), Filipino Films including CD compilations and DVDs, and many others are some of these. It also advertises international ad campaigns for weight loss, and animal protection and ethical treatment (PETA). It also advertises foreign movies and features other business sites.
Conclusion
Management control is indeed of great importance. It is essential that a company must focus on its control systems since it is the key towards attaining the goals set by the company. Through management control, the company is able maximize its resources and detect problems that would hinder company growth. That is the true essence of the management control process.
A company must always be concerned in every part of the business processes. It is very essential that every division must have constant update and be given sufficient attention as to its entire function. An effective management control considers all aspects of the managerial processes, applications, and strategies by analyzing all possible areas that can further be improved. It is essential that the firm is able to effectively make use of its resources to reach the goals to continuous improvement and profit maximization. Analysis of the company performance must show a reliable data that depicts the company’s utilization of assets, the input and output exchanges, labor force participation, and other internal and external activities. Through this, all aspects are seen independently and as a whole to detect areas that needs ample amount of control.
For instance, in period since current strategic plan was prepared, the organization has made capital investment decisions. These decisions usually entails large sum of money and are long-term based, The process of approving proposed capital investments does not follow a set of timetable; senior managers make the decisions as soon the need for them is identified. Planners incorporate in the strategic plan the implications of these decisions, as well as assumptions and guidelines about external forces such as inflation, internal policies, and product pricing.
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