Exam 15: Managing Information

What is data mining? Describe the two kinds of data mining. How can data mining be used to invade the privacy of individuals, given the large amount of data that is collected and stored electronically on people in their everyday transactions?

Although firewalls can protect personal computers and network services connected to the corporate network, people away from their offices who interact with their company networks via the Internet face a safety risk. Which of the following technologies has proven to be a viable solution to this problem?

Jupiter Communications An entrepreneur developed Kibu.com as an online fashion magazine for girls between the ages of 13 and 18. The messages from Kibu's advertisers were tailored for and intriguing to a teenage audience. Revenue came from companies that sponsored various channels and features on the site, such as the Fashion Channel. Kibu had a loyalty program, the kPoints xChange, which gave site visitors an incentive to communicate with the site and its sponsors. Each time they did, they earned points that could be exchanged for merchandise such as CDs, movie tickets, or beaded jewelry. Visitors who filled out surveys could win one of the 10,000 Kibu Boxes. Box recipients got still more points if they went to the Box Channel and filled out forms telling one to three of the participating companies how they liked the products inside. By September 2000, however, the site closed, and its founders returned the remaining start-up capital to investors. Refer to Jupiter Communications. The information Kibu.com collects would be stored in ____.

The first company to gain first-mover advantage typically benefits from higher profits and larger market share.

Which of the following statements about intranets is true?

Jupiter Communications An entrepreneur developed Kibu.com as an online fashion magazine for girls between the ages of 13 and 18. The messages from Kibu's advertisers were tailored for and intriguing to a teenage audience. Revenue came from companies that sponsored various channels and features on the site, such as the Fashion Channel. Kibu had a loyalty program, the kPoints xChange, which gave site visitors an incentive to communicate with the site and its sponsors. Each time they did, they earned points that could be exchanged for merchandise such as CDs, movie tickets, or beaded jewelry. Visitors who filled out surveys could win one of the 10,000 Kibu Boxes. Box recipients got still more points if they went to the Box Channel and filled out forms telling one to three of the participating companies how they liked the products inside. By September 2000, however, the site closed, and its founders returned the remaining start-up capital to investors. Refer to Jupiter Communications. The developer of Kibu and his investors created the first company to offer both content and chat rooms aimed at girls between the ages of 13 and 18. They hoped this would give them a ____.

The two basic methods of capturing information are continuous and periodic.

Pioneering differential refers to the strategic advantage that companies earn by being the first in an industry to use new information technology to substantially lower costs or to differentiate a product or service from competitors.

What is a first-mover advantage?

A master brewer knows the exact ingredients to add to make a dark beer, a lager, or an ale. He understands the nuances of the fermentation process and when a batch reaches perfection. How can technology capture this specialized knowledge?

Raw data contain useful information that communicate a clear and readily understandable message to the person for which the data were gathered.

The two basic methods of capturing information are ____.

The goal of an executive information system is to provide information that is accurate, complete, relevant and ____.

Three kinds of information technology are used by executives, managers, and workers inside the company to access and share information. They are ____.

WWYD Delta Airlines lose bags. They need to handle thousands of bags per day and then rush them to connecting planes or baggage carousels. The challenging logistics, however, don't make up for the impact of delays on passengers. In all, 31 million bags are delivered late worldwide each year. In the U.S., seven people per 1,000 passengers, or roughly one per plane, don't get their luggage on time, and they file 7.5 million mishandled baggage reports a year. Over the last decade, the three largest airlines, American, United, and Delta, have been the worst. Delta is 30 percent worse compared to the best airlines. Second, 28 percent more bags are delayed today compared to a decade ago. No wonder passengers are frustrated, especially when charged a handling fee for checked bags. Nothing like paying extra to have the airline lose your bags, especially when Delta brings in $952 million a year in bag fees! Passengers are beginning to realize that bag fees bring in much more than the cost to deliver bags, so they have every right to expect Delta to do a better job delivering bags. After all, if Amazon can send emails and texts notifying customers when their orders leave the warehouse, arrive at their local airports, and are delivered to their homes, then why can't Delta do the same thing with luggage that's supposed to never leave the airport? Delta Airline's historically poor job of handling baggage is clearly related to Delta trailing its competitors in the use of information technology to track and manage baggage handling. While Delta catches up with its competitors in terms of high-tech baggage handling systems, it is the first airline to offer real-time tracking of passengers' bags. Not unlike tracking an Amazon shipment, Delta's real-time tracking allow passengers to know precisely where their bags are from check-in, to the flight on which they're loaded, to the baggage carousel where they're hopefully waiting. Passengers receive a tracking number for each bag and can track its whereabouts using their smartphones. Should a bag be delayed, that tracking number is easily entered into baggage claim forms on Delta's website. The challenge for airlines such as Delta, which have begun or are considering self-tagging systems, is not capturing information or processing information, but protecting information. All airlines use bar codes on boarding passes, either printed from your home computer or from the check-in kiosk at the airport. An increasing number of airlines, including Delta, now send electronic boarding passes containing bar codes via email to passengers' smartphones to be scanned in place of bar codes on printed boarding passes. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA)says that paperless boarding passes are more secure "and will prevent fraudulent paper boarding passes that could be created and printed at home." Why? Because instead of physically examining a printed copy of a boarding pass, TSA agents will scan the bar code on the electronic boarding pass to ensure its validity at the checkpoint. Passengers will still be required to show photo identification so officers can validate that the name on the boarding pass matches the name on the ID. Refer to WWYD Delta. When a TSA employee scans an electronic boarding pass, it is considered:

Unlike an executive information system, a decision support system (DSS)____.

WWYD Delta Airlines lose bags. They need to handle thousands of bags per day and then rush them to connecting planes or baggage carousels. The challenging logistics, however, don't make up for the impact of delays on passengers. In all, 31 million bags are delivered late worldwide each year. In the U.S., seven people per 1,000 passengers, or roughly one per plane, don't get their luggage on time, and they file 7.5 million mishandled baggage reports a year. Over the last decade, the three largest airlines, American, United, and Delta, have been the worst. Delta is 30 percent worse compared to the best airlines. Second, 28 percent more bags are delayed today compared to a decade ago. No wonder passengers are frustrated, especially when charged a handling fee for checked bags. Nothing like paying extra to have the airline lose your bags, especially when Delta brings in $952 million a year in bag fees! Passengers are beginning to realize that bag fees bring in much more than the cost to deliver bags, so they have every right to expect Delta to do a better job delivering bags. After all, if Amazon can send emails and texts notifying customers when their orders leave the warehouse, arrive at their local airports, and are delivered to their homes, then why can't Delta do the same thing with luggage that's supposed to never leave the airport? Delta Airline's historically poor job of handling baggage is clearly related to Delta trailing its competitors in the use of information technology to track and manage baggage handling. While Delta catches up with its competitors in terms of high-tech baggage handling systems, it is the first airline to offer real-time tracking of passengers' bags. Not unlike tracking an Amazon shipment, Delta's real-time tracking allow passengers to know precisely where their bags are from check-in, to the flight on which they're loaded, to the baggage carousel where they're hopefully waiting. Passengers receive a tracking number for each bag and can track its whereabouts using their smartphones. Should a bag be delayed, that tracking number is easily entered into baggage claim forms on Delta's website. The challenge for airlines such as Delta, which have begun or are considering self-tagging systems, is not capturing information or processing information, but protecting information. All airlines use bar codes on boarding passes, either printed from your home computer or from the check-in kiosk at the airport. An increasing number of airlines, including Delta, now send electronic boarding passes containing bar codes via email to passengers' smartphones to be scanned in place of bar codes on printed boarding passes. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA)says that paperless boarding passes are more secure "and will prevent fraudulent paper boarding passes that could be created and printed at home." Why? Because instead of physically examining a printed copy of a boarding pass, TSA agents will scan the bar code on the electronic boarding pass to ensure its validity at the checkpoint. Passengers will still be required to show photo identification so officers can validate that the name on the boarding pass matches the name on the ID. Refer to WWYD Delta. Delta's real-time tracking of passengers' checked baggage is an example of:

According to the resource-based view of information technology, sustainable competitive advantage occurs when information technology adds value, is different across firms, and is difficult to create or acquire.

According to ____, the cost of computing will drop by 50 percent as computer-processing power doubles every 18 months.

Which of the following statements about firewalls is true?