Compare and contrast the advantages of and problems with electroni.docx

Compare and contrast the advantages of and problems with
electronic mail, other verbal communication media, and
nonverbal communication. Give an example that did or could
apply in real life.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length.
Explain why communication is important in organizations, and
discuss four influences on effective communication encoding
and decoding. Give an example that did or could apply in real
life.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length
Describe the dependence model of power as well as the five
sources of power in organizations. Give an example that did or
could apply in real life.
Explain how social acceptance and media richness influence the
preferred communication channel. Give an example that did or
could apply in real life.
Discuss the duties of care and good faith.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length.
BU131

Project
1
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Project Introduction:
Dirt Bikes U.S.A. is a small company headquartered in
Carbondale, Colorado. It manufactures and sells its own brand
of
off-road motorcycles. The company, founded in 1993, produces
customized dirt bikes for racing and off-road
recreational riding using the best quality components from all
over the world. Today, the company faces a new set of
challenges and opportunities. You have been asked, as a
consultant, to apply your knowledge of information systems
to help Dirt Bikes U.S.A. solve some of the problems it is
encountering.
Course Objective Tested:
1. Project the future impact of information systems on
businesses and on your career.
2. Use information systems to enhance a business’s reach,
competitive advantage, and operational efficiency.
3. Choose appropriate hardware, software, and Information

technology (IT) management infrastructure for a
business.
4. Choose appropriate security, backup, virus protection, and
control measures for a business's information
systems.
5. Use enterprise systems, supply chain management (SCM)
systems, and customer relationship management
(CRM) systems to achieve operational excellence.
6. Use e-commerce and M-commerce to achieve operational
excellence and customer intimacy.
7. Use knowledge management techniques to improve the
decision-making process and operational efficiency.
8. Design an appropriate information system to solve business
problems.
BU131
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PROJECT SUBMISSION PLAN

Project
Part
Description/Requirements of Project Part Evaluation Criteria
1 Dirt Bikes U.S.A.—Case Study
Task 1:
Examine the Dirt Bikes U.S.A. case study and review How
to Analyze a Case Study. After reading the case study,
review the following information:
On the basis of this information, answer the following
questions:
1. Which products should the company restock?
2. Which stores and sales regions would benefit
from promotional campaigns and additional

marketing?
3. When (what time of year) should the company
offer products at full price and when should it
offer discounts?
Task 2:
Dirt Bikes’ management wants to be sure that it is
pursuing the right competitive strategy. You have been
asked to perform a competitive analysis of the company
to find the information you need. Prepare a report that
analyzes Dirt Bikes using the value chain and competitive
forces models. Your report should include the following:
1. Which activities at Dirt Bikes create the most
Criteria
Points
Assigned
Points
Earned
Did the students
answer the
specified case

study questions?
35%
Did you provide
answers that
follow a logical
pattern and
include an
explanation for
assumptions and
appropriate
examples?
45%
Did you include
appropriate
spreadsheet
data to support
their answers?
20%
http://www.content.distance-education.itt-
tech.edu/cliksdmrroot/content_directory/mount1/507393/BU141
0_v1/Dirt_Bikes.pdf

0_v1/Analysis_case_study.pdf
0_v1/Analysis_case_study.pdf
BU131
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Project
Part
value?
2. How does Dirt Bikes provide value to its
customers?
3. Who are Dirt Bikes’ major competitors? How do
the prices of their products compare with those
of Dirt Bikes’? What product features do they
emphasize?
4. What are the competitive forces that can affect

the industry?
5. What competitive strategy should Dirt Bikes
pursue?
6. What information systems best support that
strategy?
7. (Optional) Use electronic presentation software
to summarize your findings for the management.
Task 3:
Dirt Bikes would like to implement new software for
production planning, quality control, and scheduling. The
software will be used by 25 members of the company’s
manufacturing staff. The management is wondering
whether to purchase the software from a commercial
vendor along with the hardware required or to use a
hosted software solution from a Software as a Service
(SaaS) provider. (The hosted software runs on the service
provider’s computer.) You have been asked to help the
management with this rent-versus-buy decision by

calculating the total cost of each option over a three-year
period. The cost of purchasing the software includes the
initial purchase price of the software (licensing fee of
$100,000 in the first year), and the cost of implementing
BU131
Project
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Project
Part
and customizing the software in the first year ($20,000).
Hardware costs include a server to run the software (a
first-year purchase of $4,000), one information systems
specialist devoting half his or her time to support the
software ($55,000 in full-time annual salary and benefits
with a 3 percent annual salary increase each year after

the first year), and user training in the first year
($10,000).You also need to account for the cost of annual
software upgrades ($5,000). On the other hand, the costs
of renting hosted software include the rental fees ($2,500
annually per user), implementation and customization
costs ($12,000 in the first year), and training ($10,000 in
the first year).
1. Use your spreadsheet software to calculate the
total cost of renting or purchasing this software
over a three-year period. Identify the lowest-
price alternative that meets Dirt Bikes’
requirements.
2. What other factors should Dirt Bikes consider,
besides cost, while determining whether to rent
or buy the hardware and software?
3. (Optional) If possible, use electronic presentation
software to summarize your findings for
management.

4.
Submission Requirements:
files.
-point
BU131
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5
Project
Part
Assigned: Week 1
Due: Week 3
Grading Weight: 12.5%
2 Dirt Bikes U.S.A.—Redesign Database

Task 1:
Dirt Bikes U.S.A. sells primarily through its distributors.
Click here to download the database file. It maintains a
small customer database with the following data:
The distributors collect this data after each sale and then
forward it to Dirt Bikes. Dirt Bikes would like to be able to
market more aggressively to its customers. The marketing
department would like to send customers e-mail notices
of special racing events and of sales on parts. It would
also like to learn more about customers’ interests and
tastes, their ages, years of schooling, other sports in

which they are interested, and whether they attend dirt
bike racing events. In addition, Dirt Bikes would like to
know whether its customers own more than one
motorcycle. If a motorcycle was purchased from Dirt
Bikes, the company would like to know the date of
purchase, model name, and distributor from whom it was
purchased. If the customer owns a non-Dirt Bikes
motorcycle, the company would like to know the
Criteria
Points
Assigned
Points
Earned
Did you prepare
a report
containing
answers to the
case study
questions?
35%
Did you include
appropriate
tables, reports,

and databases
to support their
answers?
25%
Did you design a
solution as
instructed in the
Dirt Bikes U.S.A
case study?
40%
0_v1/laudon_ch05_customer_database.mdb
BU131
Project
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Project
Part
manufacturer and model of the other motorcycle (or

motorcycles) and the distributor from whom the
customer purchased that motorcycle.
On the basis of the above information, perform the
following activities:
1. Redesign Dirt Bikes’ customer database so that it
can store and provide the information needed
for marketing. You will need to develop a design
for the new customer database and then
implement it using database software. Consider
using multiple tables in your new design.
Populate each new table with 10 records.
2. Develop reports that would be of interest to Dirt
Bikes’ marketing and sales department (for
example, lists of repeat Dirt Bikes customers, Dirt
Bikes customers who attend racing events, or the
average ages and years of schooling of Dirt Bikes
customers) and print them.
Task 2:

The management is concerned that Dirt Bikes’ computer
systems could be vulnerable to power outages,
vandalism, computer viruses, natural disasters, or
telecommunications disruptions. You have been asked to
perform an analysis of system vulnerabilities and disaster
recovery planning for the company.
Answer the questions below. You may refer to Table 7.2,
“Examples of Computer Crime,” on page 242 of your
textbook for more information.
1. Identify the threats to which Dirt Bikes’ systems
are most vulnerable.
BU131
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Project
Part

2. Classify the most critical systems at Dirt Bikes.
What would be the impact on the company if
these systems could not operate? How long
could the company survive if these systems were
down? Which systems are the most important to
back up and restore in the event of a disaster?
3. Use the Internet to locate two disaster recovery
services that could be used by a small business,
such as Dirt Bikes. Compare them in terms of the
services they offer. Which of the two services
should Dirt Bikes use? How would these services
help Dirt Bikes recover from a disaster?
Task 3:
Dirt Bikes cannot fulfill many of its orders on time
because of delays in sourcing some important motorcycle
components and parts, such as fuel tanks. Complaints are
mounting from distributors who fear losing sales if the

dirt bikes they have ordered are delayed too long. Dirt
Bikes’ management has asked you to help address some
of its supply chain issues. Based on this information,
answer the questions listed below:
1. Use the Internet to locate alternative suppliers
for motorcycle fuel tanks. Identify two or three
suppliers. Find out the time and the cost of
shipping a fuel tank (weighing about five pounds)
by ground (surface delivery) from each supplier
to Dirt Bikes in Carbondale, Colorado. Which of
these suppliers is likely to ship the fuel tanks in
the shortest amount of time and at the lowest
cost?
BU131
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Project
Part
2. The management wants to know about any
supply chain management software that would
be appropriate for a small business, such as Dirt
Bikes. Use the Internet to locate two providers of
supply chain management software. Briefly
describe the capabilities of the two software
applications and indicate how they could help
Dirt Bikes. Which of these products would be
more appropriate for Dirt Bikes? Why?
3. (Optional) Use electronic presentation software
to summarize your findings for management.
Task 4:
Dirt Bikes’ management believes that the company could
benefit from e-commerce. The company sells motorcycles
and parts primarily through authorized dealers. It also

advertises in various magazines catering to dirt bike
enthusiasts and maintains booths at important off-road
motorcycle racing events. You have been asked to explore
how Dirt Bikes could benefit from e-commerce and by
selling online through a website.
1. Prepare a report for management that answers
the following questions:
a. How could Dirt Bikes benefit from e-
commerce? Should it sell its
motorcycles or parts online? Should it
use its website to advertise its products
and services or to offer customer
service?
b. How would a website provide value to
Dirt Bikes? Use the Internet to research
BU131
Project

9
Project
Part
the cost of an e-commerce site for a
small-to medium-sized company. How
much revenue or cost savings would the
website have to produce to make it a
worthwhile investment for Dirt Bikes?
2. Prepare specifications to describe the functions
that should be performed by Dirt Bikes’ website.
Provide links to other websites or systems in
your specifications.
3. (Optional) Design the home page for Dirt Bikes’
website along with an important secondary page
linked to the home page using a word processor
or a Web page development tool of your choice.

4. Identify some important website features that
can be used to create customer relationships.
Analyze the challenge that Dirt Bikes may face in
the course of creating customer intimacy and
loyalty.
Task 5:
Dirt Bikes promotes itself as a “learning company.” It
encourages employees to undergo training to help them
advance in their careers. As employees move on, their
positions fall vacant. These positions must be filled
quickly to maintain the company’s pace of production.
Dirt Bikes’ human resources staff would like to find a way
of quickly identifying qualified employees who have the
training to fill vacant positions. Once the company knows
who these employees are, it has a better chance of filling
open positions internally rather than paying to recruit
outsiders. Dirt Bikes would like to track each employee’s

BU131
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Project
Part
years of education and the title and date of completion of
any training that each employee has attended. Dirt Bikes’
existing employee database is limited to basic human
resources data, such as employee name, identification
number, birth date, address, telephone number, marital
status, job position, and salary. Click here to download
some sample records from this database. Dirt Bikes’
human resources staff maintains employees’ skills and
training data in paper folders.
On the basis of this information, prepare a system
analysis report describing Dirt Bikes’ problem and

suggesting a solution that can be implemented using
database software. The report should include the
following points:
nal
and business impact
the solution
be addressed by the solution, including changes
in business processes
On the basis of the requirements you have identified,
design the solution using database software and populate
it with at least 10 records per table. Consider whether you
can use or modify the existing employee database in your
design. Print out the design for each table in your new
application. Use the system to create queries and reports
that would be of interest to the management, such as the

names of employees who have a college education, or
have undergone training in project management or
0_v1/laudon_ch11_employee_database.mdb
BU131
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Project
Part
advanced computer-aided design (CAD) tools. If possible,
use electronic presentation software to summarize your
findings for the management.
questions posed in this part of the project.
e appropriate databases to support your
answers.

files.
-point
Assigned: Week 3
Due: Week 5
Grading Weight: 12.5%
End of Project Description
Sheet1Play Around Toys Risk
AssessmentProbabilityAverageExpectedExposureof
OccurrenceLoss ($)Annual LossHackers95%190,000Malware
60%75,000Power failure15%500,000User errors95%65,000Data
loss12%90,000Flooding2%400,000Training
lack20%16,000Vandalism1%100,000Enbezzlement3%60,000Im
proper use5%15,000
Sheet2
Sheet3

What's the Risk?
Play Around Toys Inc. is performing a security risk assessment.
Click here to download a spreadsheet with Exposures,
Probability of Occurrence, and Average Loss.
Tasks:
1. Calculate the expected annual loss for each exposure and
create a graph.
2. Submit a report summarizing which points have the greatest
vulnerability and provide recommendations.
· Submit your answers in a one-page MS Word document.
· Submit the updated spreadsheet
· Font: Arial; 12-point
· Line Spacing: Double
Getting to Know Customers by Utilizing an Access Database
Play Around Toys Inc. wants to adapt a new business strategy to
increase revenue. Click here to download an MS Access
database file containing customer demographic information
obtained through the Play Around Toys Loyalty program as well
as sales transactions for those customers.
Tasks:
1. Perform a Join operation on the tables tbl Customers and tbl
Orders.
2. Develop a simple query to generate a customer analysis
report.
3. Submit a report describing what the database information
reveals about customer behavior and the business strategies that
could be pursued to increase revenue.
· Submit your answers, not exceeding 300 words, in an MS
Word document.
· Submit a copy of the updated database.

· Font: Arial; 12-point
· Line Spacing: Double

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