Assignment 2 (Due: July 7, 2009, before 01:00pm)

Based on the orgnaization(s) that you visited, what do you think are the risks associated with business and IS/IT change? (1000 words)

Our second assignment in MIS 1, is to identify the risks associated with business and IS/IT change based on the interview we had conducted on the visited company or organization.

A management information system (MIS) ,is a subset of the overall internal controls of a business covering the application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures by management accountants to solve business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy. Management information systems are distinct from regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization.[1] Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making, e.g. Decision Support Systems, Expert systems, and Executive information systems.

It has been describe as, "MIS 'lives' in the space that intersects technology and business. MIS combines tech with business to get people the information they need to do their jobs better/faster/smarter. Information is the lifeblood of all organizations - now more than ever. MIS professionals work as systems analysts, project managers, systems administrators, etc., communicating directly with staff and management across the organization."

At the start, in businesses and other organizations, internal reporting was made manually and only periodically, as a by-product of the accounting system and with some additional statistics, and gave limited and delayed information on management performance.

In their infancy, business computers were used for the practical business of computing the payroll and keeping track of accounts payable and accounts receivable. As applications were developed that provided managers with information about sales, inventories, and other data that would help in managing the enterprise, the term "MIS" arose to describe these kinds of applications. Today, the term is used broadly in a number of contexts and includes (but is not limited to): decision support systems, resource and people management applications, project management and database retrieval application.

THE GRAND MEN SENG HOTEL

Grand Men Seng Hotel was built in 1996. Men Seng is a transliteration of the Chinese characters 民生, as seen on our logo. Together, the two characters mean “the livelihood of the people”. We can only guess why the founders chose “livelihood of the people” as the name of their business. It may be because a business generates jobs for the people – a kind of livelihood for the people of Davao City, Philippines, and its vicinities.
Old Men Seng Restaurant began its history in 1946 on San Pedro Street as a restaurant with only four tables. As buildings were built towards Anda Street, the founders leased the upper portions of the new buildings for accommodations. Unfortunately, the buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1962.
Men Seng Hotel and Restaurant, a new 7 storey building, was erected by 1965 in a different location on San Pedro Street near Legaspi Street. It was one of the very first high rises in Davao City. The hotel and restaurant operation continued, grew and passed on to the next generation.
In 1996, instead of renewing the lease for the 7 storey building, the next generation of management built what is now Grand Men Seng Hotel. Many times larger than its previous predecessors, the 70 rooms Grand Men Seng Hotel features a Grand Ballroom that can accommodate 1500 guests, a swimming pool for its guests, and smaller function rooms for business meetings.

Grand Men Seng Hotel still continues to deliver quality and excellent services to our clients while providing a livelihood for the people.

INFORMATION SYSTEM and ASSIGNED PERSONNELS

In a general sense, the term Information System (IS) refers to a system of people, data records and activities that process the data and information in an organization, and it includes the organization's manual and automated processes. In a narrow sense, the term information system (or computer-based information system) refers to the specific application software that is used to store data records in a computer system and automates some of the information-processing activities of the organization. Computer-based information systems are in the field of information technology. The discipline of business process modelling describes the business processes supported by information systems.

There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems, decision support systems, knowledge management systems, database management systems, and office information systems. Critical to most information systems are information technologies, which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information, performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.

Information technologies are a very important and malleable resource available to executives.Many companies have created a position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) that sits on the executive board with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Technical Officer (CTO).The CTO may also serve as CIO, and vice versa. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), who focuses on information security within an organization, normally reports to the CIO.

Information System Research

Information systems research is generally concerned with the study of the effects of information systems on the behavior of individuals, groups, and organizations.[5][6] Notable publication outlets for information systems research are the journals Management Information Systems Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, and Communications of the Association for Information Systems.

Since information systems is an applied field, industry practitioners expect information systems research to generate findings that are immediately applicable in practice. However, that is not always the case. Often information systems researchers explore behavioral issues in much more depth than practitioners would expect them to do. This may render information systems research results difficult to understand, and has led to criticism.[7]

To study an information system itself, rather than its effects, information systems models are used, such as EATPUT.

QUESTION and ANSWER

What are the tools and gadgets you are using right now in order to maintain your system?

-We are using a PC as a workstation and we have our personal laptops.

What is your secret on having a good performance in maintaining your IS system?

-It's just hard work and discipline.

How important are people in IS?

-They are very important because without the people, software and hardware are useless. Peopleware is the most important and crucial part of an Information System.

Thank you!!!

God Bless Reggae!!!


References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_systems
http://www.grandmenseng.com


visit my blog==> http://polrrockz.blogspot.com

Company visited: LDS ERS office



First let me explain the structure of their IS/IT as I observed...



Risks in IT/IS change?:

For me, with regards to the company that we visited, IT change is a bad idea. Before considering IT change it would be a smart way to first identify it's present situation and if IT change will benefit the company. And to better study about this aspect, it's a good idea to assign a committee for this agenda that will have a purpose to:





*If the company will upgrade their hardware. These new devices may be sophisticated and thus would require the operators to learn new skills. And if any malfunction pertaining with these devices would occur, the company would be forced to hire other knowledgeable persons to fix the problem. And this would mean more expenses for the company.

*Because the technology will be new to the persons using it. The company will also be in a deciding problem where they will choose from hiring new capable employees or provide training for their old employees. But as I see it, in either option, it will mean further expenses.

*The company will also suffer from technology addiction if IT change is not properly managed. Addiction in a sense where the company will upgrade their hardware not because they need to but because they are amazed of the new technologies that are available.

But then again these risks in IT change are overwhelmed by its positive results if properly planned. These are some of IT change positive results.

Speed and Ease of Communication


More “Stolen” Time



More Opportunities to Work from Home

Behind the NCCC's success as one of the leading company in the country. We can't deny that it has a must effective Management Information System, when it comes to business efficiency and services.
Now, let me share to you some important facts and details I'd gather from the interview we had conduct last July 4,2009 (Saturday) among with my co-IT students to Mr. Hervin Miklat, the NCCC- Hardware Security Supervisor.

Regarding with the question, What do you think are the risks associated with business and IT/IS change?.
The following are some of the important discussions and explanations of Mr. Hervin Miklat.

According to Sir Hervin:
“In everything we do and to pursue our goals, the case is not actually a risks but a challenge in our management”.

In defend, Sir Hervin sight an specific examples of situations.
Example 1: Why our company has an Merchandise Management System (MMS)?.
At the start, NCCC only issue a manual receipt ti the customers. Now, pertaining to a situation that there are two competitors with the same sales and same price of products. Now, if am the customer, of course i must prefer to choose the one with fast accommodation of services compared to the other.

Risk Involve:
In that situation, the management will plan for the suitable system that can be applicable for the business proficiency.

Example 2: OS of the Management.
Comparing to the 2000 Os and 2008 OS application, of course the 2008 OS is much better to apply that the 2000 OS, because it's more advance, efficient and have many new features than the 2000 OS.

Risk Involve:
If the Management may not adopt the 2008 OS, it may lead to a possible new features that the Management will not make. If this is the case, the competency of the NCCC may lessen compared to it's other business competitors.

Example 3: Firewall
The situation is comparing the old to the latest firewall. A firewall have an Unified Technology System (UTM).

Risk Involve:
If the company will decide to change the UTM?
The first thing that the management should priorities is to upgrade their systems information because if not, it may cause restrictions to the system's security.

NOTE:
“In every IT change there is a risk involve”.

With these examples, Sir Hervin added that before any risks and decisions to pursue the management should make first a business case study and analysis to determine the most profitable ways and steps in business plans and changes.

Based on the organization(s) that you visited, what do you think are the risks associated with business and IT/IS change?

First thing first, the organization or company that I visited was the DAVAO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY. And it is part of Aboitiz Group of Companies under Aboitiz Power Corporation (APC).

To start, I will just give you a little background about Davao Light and Power Company. Davao Light and Power Company is the third largest privately-owned electric utility in the Philippines. Davao Light It holds the franchise for distributing electric power to Davao City, the largest city in the world in terms of land area, as well as Panabo City and the municipalities of Carmen, Dujali, and Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte.

Davao Light and Power Company started their Information System way back 1978. It was just called the Billing Department where it focuses on Billing. They were just using NCR Tower back then as there system. Their department way back was called EDP or Electronics Data Processing. EDP or EDP-Billing was breakdown into 4 sections which is Programmers section, the Operations section, the Data Controller section, and lastly the Key Punchers section. This was the IS department of Davao Light and Power Company way back 1978.

EDP-Billing - Programmers, Operations, Data Controller, Key Punchers

Later on, the EDP was modified by Davao Light and breakdown 2 sections to make it only 2 sections which is, the Systems section, and the Operations section. To graph it, it will look like this:

EDP - Systems, Operations

Way back before Davao Light and Power Company focus only in the Billing process which made some problems on the company’s part. During in paying customer bills it will take years before the transaction be finish due to the system. Its like 1 system for the cashier, and another system for the printing of receipts something like that, and that was the biggest problem. That’s why Davao Light and Power Company find ways to make their Information System better. As customer is on the rise their system also needs more upgrades or modifications. Davao Light and Power Company simulated a system to make the billing transaction simple and easy. They tried different methods. After they resolved the problem by simulating a new system, they tried it on the accounting department. And when the problem was solved they already applied it. In the year 1992 Davao Light and Power Company applied their first Accounting System.

From the year 1983-1994 Davao Light and Power Company changed their system with the use of IBM 4331/4361 Processor.

By the year 1994 they changed there department into ISD which stands for Information System Department, it has 2 sections which is, the Operations section, and Systems section. The Operations section which is handling the Billing/Collections part while the Systems section was in charge for the new developments.

In the year 1995 they changed there system from using mainframe to Clipper. They changed to Clipper because it has more memory capacity than the mainframe and a little bit faster than the mainframe. And also they added one section for the ISD department which is the Training section, which in charge of training staff and other incoming employees so they will be competitive in work.

By the year 1996 they also added another section for ISD making it into four sections. The new section was named into Hardware. The reason why they added hardware in ISD because they are finding ways to have a good software then also they find ways to have a good hardware. Hardware and software are partners. And we all know that now a day, these types of things are very important in a system because a company like Davao Light you really need have a very strong hardware to make systems more at its best performance.

In the year 2003 they also focuses on the Engineering department due to they forgot also how important these are so they changed the system into ISD/EID or Information System/Engineering Information Department.

From 2005 up to present, the system was changed into ISG or Information Services Group. In this system they changed from Clipper to Oracle. For now Oracle is the most powerful system to date. The Oracle’s features are faster than the Clipper and have a very high storage capacity. And Clipper is not robust than Oracle.

So to summaries it all, the Davao Light is finding ways to make their system simpler. As what have they said, the simpler the better. So from mainframe, to Clipper, and now the system that is still in use is the Oracle. As of now Davao Light has programs to make their systems easier. Some of these programs are Talent Management Program which is focusing on training employees to have the same level of knowledge about the company. For example if John is sick and there is a problem to be fixed then Paul is there for him. Or shall we even if they don’t have other employees they can get from the training employees in the program to assist when needed. Those are just some of there program that aim to improve there system. And also Davao Light is now using Biometrics as keeping track of employees.

For the question about the risks associated with business and IT/IS change?

In every business they are also changes that are happening. And when changes are happening they are also risks associated in these changes. As technology evolves risks also evolves. The main objective to do is how to contain these risks. One thing about changing system is that is makes the system more durable in the sense, when we change we also learn new things. So in order to have a good system we really need to change from time to time in order to keep on track. That’s why they change there system in order to reduce problems in order to have a better system. And lastly, systems should always be compatible with the process not the other way around.






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NCCC New City Commercial Corporation


Profile:
"NCCC is all about people: Their associates, customers, business partners and community. Since starting out as a textile store in 1952 they continue to grow, expanding to different retail businesses and locations to serve more people.They strive to offer Service from the Heart first of all to their associates.They also maintain solid relationships with their business partners to provide a wide assortment of basic and unique merchandise.They are proud of journey and we continue to pay tribute to o founders and history by living up to core values of humility, caring, hard work, excellence and fun. They live for their vision to be A Leader Who Cares. "

Last July 4,2009, Saturday, we conducted an interview regarding the company of our choice. We interviewed Mr. Hervin Miklat, the Supervisor of HNS( HARDWARE NETWORKING SOFTWARE) group and asked questions about our assignment. We had our interview in NCCC food court. Maybe, it' considered informal but he did answer the questions we asked. These are the things that he shared during the interview.


IT BEST PRACTICES:

+ PROPER DOCUMENTATION – in every system to be made, there would be probable procedures done with corresponding appropriate records. Used to reduce or eliminate incidents and major consequences, such as injury, loss of life, property damage, environmental harm, and business interruption.

Ex.
--operating POS (Point of Sale: A point-of-sale (POS) terminal is a computerized replacement for a cash register.)
--before the usage of POS by the end-users, there will be standard using operation done to ensure complete details and accurate informations
--in every decision made concerning on implementing the switching of systems from old to new, there would be a proposal for a “business case” and analysis which requires also proper documentation of files.
--avoiding malpractice in recording issues(When the company provides extremely poor/good products or service.) in the company through proper documentation.

Business Hierarchy of NCCC Group



Functions:

==ICT==
The Information and Communications Technology Department
The ICT Department aims to be interactive so that business pressures for change can inform, and be informed, by technology developments.



==ICT DIRECTOR==
The role requires the development of appropriate communication arrangements with key stakeholders both internal and external.


==APPLICATION GROUP==
Lead by a manager
In charged with Systems Development, Applications development & support, Lead programming and database administration

==OPERATIONS GROUP==
Lead by a supervisor
Assigned in MMS (Merchandise Management System ) : is an automated information system to keep track of the inventory in a warehouse or store. Usually the merchandise can be grouped into product lines. Thus, the MMS shows the exact number of products a business has in stock at any particular time.
an active role in the benchmarking, cost benefit and risk analyses and definition of service needs.

Ex.



++ Two stores (A and B) with the same products and costs. The only difference is that A has faster way of service particularly the accurate scanning of the product bought by the costumer and the proper receipt to be given while B has only indefinite way of issuing the receipt . Where would the customer prefer to buy the things he needs? Well, probably in A, because of it’s efficiency and speed. It would focus their management on the terms of service provided by B.
++ Another example would be improving internal services and reducing costs of a certain product to ensure the growth of sales

==HARDWARE NETWORKING SOFTWARE==
Lead by a supervisor
Involved with Hardware maintenance, Network maintenance, Applications Software maintenance, Infrastructure Software maintenance,

The Risks that are associated with business and IS/IT change:

==The Supervisor emphasized that the risks should be addressed as “business challenge”, be competitive with respect to the business operation. Each system should be managed in a way that each section on each department should be competitive in the market.


Examples:
++due to the development and IS/IT changes NCCC is forced (or leaved with no other choice) to upgrade to latest and the more secured system.


++ BEFORE AFTER

UPGRADED TO
Firewall ---------------------------- UTM Device


Definitions:
==Firewall - Any of a number of security schemes that prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to a computer network or that monitor transfers of information to and from the network.
==UTM Device - Unified Threat Management, a design concept, epitomized by a single computer device, usually referred to as a UTM appliance: used to provide firewall, spam filtering, gateway antivirus protection, intrusion detection or prevention


The risks not prior to the change of IT:
==they are leaved without no choice because if they would stay at firewall, their system may collapse and the data might be manipulated. Because the firewall they used to make use of has its different stages developed around 2000, there is no anti-virus scanner propose to the network, compared to UTM device that has the higher capability of preventing collapse of data.

The Risks prior to the change of IT:
==because of the “upgrade decision” of firewall the group in charged in the processing of data must make a “business case” within the process, technical training and compatibility issues. These would analyze the business case conducted and would create risks as what is said.

++ Operating Systems (from old to new: the names of OS are not specified)

The risks not prior to the change of IT:
==If the Operating System will not be upgraded risks like less security would occur and its vulnerability issues. These vulnerability issues are hone to be used by the hacker to crack system and probably destroy the system. Resulting these to have lesser security. Therefore , they will be forced to upgrade in order to support the IT needs of their system.

The Risks prior to the change of IT:
==the risks in upgrading the Operating System is it would be an another challenge for the group to create another examination of the comparison between an old system to a new system.


=====THEREFORE: in every IS/IT change there is always a risk involve. Every risks carries positive and negative impact on the system used by the company.


FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS:

Due to pressures to proceed with the various aspects of the work expected of the ICT department it should be possible to carry out some of the restructuring in parallel with planning the implementation of the strategy to arrive at acceptable outcomes in the near future. The implementation of the proposed infrastructure is partly dependent on the way in which the new department will deliver the ICT services of NCCC. However, it would not be advisable, in the long term, to implement a strategy without the appropriate resources to support and maintain it.
It will also be difficult to delay the implementation of the already declared new infrastructure and standards and risk further costly opening as well as losing credibility among the user population.




References:
http://www.nccc.com.ph/
http://www.freeencyclopedia.com.ph/


==the photos in our interview are posted in my blog

http://www.tipukling3.blogspot.com

Sources:
http://communication.howstuffworks.com/technology-changed-business.htm
http://ghofficedepot.com/about.htm
http://www.mossadams.com/press/documents/yardley-damon-nwppa.pdf
http://www.flint.umich.edu/~weli/courses/bus181/notes/chapter3.pdf
http://www.erisk.com/Learning/JigSaw/BusinessRisk.asp#8

Visit my blog: http://shecapacillo.blogspot.com/

The company that I have visited was the Lane Systems. Lane System is actively promoting IT development in the Philippines and is closely working with government agencies in building solutions for small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and encouraging them to automate their business processes. It is exists to provide an ever-increasing level of quality software, consulting, service and responsiveness to the customers for very reasonable costs, while creating a corporate culture that fosters respect, personal growth, responsibility and opportunities for their employees. Moreover, Lane System is also unique in several aspects; among them is the unparalleled ability to examine a business challenge, apply appropriate technology solutions, and effectively articulate the solution to their own teams and the customer from start to finish. They guarantee the customers’ satisfaction as they go the “extra mile” to see that their customers know that they mean business when they say they are committed to them.

That’s why, because of being committed to their job they have also encountered to have some changes/resource policies in their systems and they’ve developed it, in order to have more improvements on their performance so that the customers would also be satisfied and contended with their works and will keep working with them too. However, changing systems is also not easy to do, it is neither very complicated nor very difficult to handle because there’s so many things that you have to consider before systems are built and tested, like the risks of change. And that’s what they had experienced too like controlling the integrity of information systems and resources, including all network devices, computer systems, applications, and databases in their infrastructure. By the way, here are some of the purposes why some organizations plan to change.

The Purpose of Change:

The purpose of organizational transformation and business reengineering was to change radically how the organization behaved. The organizational transformation needs the reappraisal and redesign of business processes to create dramatic organizational performance improvements.

And the desire to make such fundamental changes in organizations is driven by three major aims:

1. The need for an inbuilt capability for detecting and responding to changing circumstances.
2. To obtain economic benefits as a result of streamlined operations and increased customer satisfaction.
3. To achieve higher employee benefits which directly benefit the two other aims.

Information is more critical in organizations as change and uncertainty increase. IT is an important enabler and integrator of various different business units within an organization. However, information is not being exploited to its full potential. Therefore, information must be managed strategically and no corporate strategy can be considered complete without taking IT concerns into account.


Moreover, as I have searched, in organizations without a formal information technology (IT) change management process, it is estimated that 80% of IT service outage problems are caused by updates and alterations to systems, applications, and infrastructure. Consequently, one of the first areas to address to improve service reliability is to track all changes and systematically manage change with full knowledge of the risks of the change and the potential organizational impact. Change Management is an essential part of the overall process to ensure the reliable delivery of information technology services. Nevertheless, before implementing the changes, they should also have a risk assessment for them to know the possible risks of change and have some reviews that commensurate with the potential impact of the change.

The Risks of Change:

For determining composite risk assessment that guides the implementation of the change they can have a two standardized evaluations: the organizational criticality of the system to be changed and the likelihood of adverse impact resulting from the change. First, on an annual basis, the criticality of the system is appraised in order to establish its relative value to the enterprise. The standardized criteria for this assessment are:

Number of users that could be impacted by a service interruption
Financial impact of an extended service outage or unrecoverable loss of data
Likelihood that a system/service failure could result in:
Disclosure of sensitive information that needs to be protected
Misuse of client-owned resources
Malicious interruption of services or research operations
Possibility that a system/service failure could result in an event or condition that may have adverse safety, health, security, operational, environmental, or mission implication
Potential future impacts based on prior system/service interruption experiences

Secondly, when a change is proposed, each request is graded against the following criteria:

How many users will be visibly affected by the proposed change?
What is the anticipated difficulty for user and support personnel to learn the new or modified system/service?
What is the stability and supportability of the technology or vendor products utilized by the system?
In the event the change implementation fails or adversely impacts other systems or services, what will be the impact of executing the implementation contingency plan?
Based upon past experience, what is the likelihood of failure or adverse problems resulting from the change?


Depending on the level of the composite risk, requirements of the release plan such as testing rigor and end-user communications are strengthened to mitigate higher levels of risk. Conversely, a lower risk score results in a reduced scope of change implementation requirements.


Furthermore, there are also four characteristics of a transformed organization, these are:

1. A vision that is shared throughout the business:

Everyone in the organization has the same views of how things in the organization could be. Thus, great emphasis is placed on accurate and detailed communication to develop this perspective.

2. The priority for satisfying customers’ needs:

Giving the customers what they want when they want it is the major priority in any transformed organization.

3. The high priority of satisfying staff needs:

An important aim in a transformed organization is providing employees with benefits they see as positive that contribute to the aims and objectives of the organization.

4. The vital nature of the effective management of change:

In any changing organization, emphasis must be placed on the management of change skills and responsibilities. Resistance to change must be incorporated and time must be allowed for people to adapt to the changes made.


In my research, I have found out that the contribution of IT to organizational transformation was that some organizations found information system and information technology to be crucially important while in other organizations was considerably less important. So therefore, information’s intensity determines the contribution of IT. That information intensity refers to how important information is to the overall organization.



References:
• http://www.nwacc.org/programs/awards/excellence_award/pnnl_submissions_07/pnnl_risk-based_it_change_management.pdf
• http://emhain.wit.ie/~pwall/CvD.htm
• http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses/01388/index.asp?code=01388&pg=all

Pls visit and have some comments on my blog
The Dreamer and Believer!

Our second assignment in Management Information System (MIS) is to find organization and discuss some of their best practices in IS/IT. First thing I do is to find a company that has an MIS department and give the company profile of that company. After that we need submit to our facilitator Sir Gamboa for approval. Then if the company is approved we need to write a letter to the company we choose and submit it to the company. We work as a group but our learning’s is individual. The company we choose is EMCOR (Engineering Machinery Corporation).

Company’s Background

EMCOR Davao (Engineering Machinery Corporation) was started in the year 195years ago and currently under the JVR Foundation Inc.—one of the many companies of the JVR Group of Companies. EMCOR was 48 years in Davao City as Engineering and Machinery Corp., a franchise dealer of International Harvester, by pioneering entrepreneur Jesus V. del Rosario , who set up Kawasaki Motors (Phils.) Corp., K-Servico Trade, Inc., International Writing Systems Phils. Corp., International Elevator and Equipment, Inc., JVR Foundation and local units of Panasonic Group of Companies.

This company is a 100% Filipino-owned retail business corporation specializing in appliances, furniture, IT products, motorcycles, and money transfer through its network of specialty chain stores in the Visayas, Mindanao, and Palawan areas. With the launching of our online store, EMCOR will now be making its presence known in the online industry and promote its company’s goals and vision to the global community. It registered a 26.4 percent increase in revenues over the previous year, raising its ranking of No. 235 in 2004. Emcor employs more than 2,000 people.

The EMCOR carry a wide array of product lines like Panasonic, JVC, Philips, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Electrolux, La Germania, Whirlpool, FS Furniture, Sanyo, Canon, Brother, Epson, Toshiba, Acer, Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki and many others. We have also partnered with Western Union for our money transfer services. The core of our existence is our ability to provide high quality service to our customers by providing the right products at the right time, in the right place and at the right price. They also believe that as responsible members of our society, they should pursue our profit objectives in the spirit of service to the community. They believe in reconciling the profit motive of our Company with service to the nation. Thus, EMCOR strive to maintain a balance between the interests of our customers, employees, shareholders and the government by supporting national and local agenda for economic development, social reform, educational/scientific research, healthcare and environmental sanitation and preservation. To date, the JVR Foundation has given more than PhP200 Million in philanthropic work.
http://emcor.com.ph/about.php

EMCOR Davao has its section in MIS Department. These are the following:

Help Desk. The responsibility of help desk is to answer queries in case there are problem. They are also responsible to check the transaction of customer in the company and generate errors.
Research Developers. Investigation into new or improved products: in business and industry, the work of investigating improved processes, products, and services and of developing new ones.
Technical. They are the one who will repair some computer hardware e.g. printers, centralize processing unit (cpu), keyboard, etc. and software e.g. programs in the computers. If there are failures of the connection they are the one who will fix it.
Admin Section. They are in-charge of the data and maintain the data and access the data and provide back-up of data.

All this section in the MIS Department helps the company if there are changes and problem the company will encounter along the way.

Best Practices in IS/IT

Security of the data. EMCOR ensure that there data is secure. They give assurance that their data provides a sense of protection against loss, attack, or harm and precautions taken to keep somebody or something safe from crime, attack, or danger.

Daily Backup. There database provides a copy of computer data that is stored, e.g. a copy stored on a floppy disk, compact disk or any writable materials. In case of brownout, the company has supported data.

Kept the Data Controlled. Kept the data in check and not expressed fully or at all.

The Risk of IT/IS Changes

The company is using an In-house Develop System. It is an In-house Develop System because the company implements and designs there own system. In the development stage the company uses a Visual FoxPro as their front end and SQL 6.5, SQL 7.0 and turns to SQL 2000 which the company currently using. They use it for management monitoring system through this the company can know the transaction in any store aside from two stores in Mangagoy because of the problem in internet connection. The two stores in Mangagoy have their own database and they have to submit it to the main branch for evaluation if that branch is improving or not. The database will automatically update every five minutes by the access of the internet. The maintenance of the database is through their programmer and system analyst. They also develop some feature in their database to make it easy and more precise to the users. The advantages of the database they are using are it is fast, more accurate and cost. The company saves money and time. Aside from the advantages there are also disadvantages in the database they use. If the personnel is no enough training and knowledge about the system he is currently using. The company is not ready for the Disaster Recovery System. The company suffers system failure that affects all transaction currently in progress but do not physically damage the database.

Therefore, the development and management of information technology tools assists executives and the general workforce in performing any tasks related to the processing of information. Managing ones system is indeed a hard thing to do. Management Information System (MIS) and business systems are especially useful in the collation of business data and the production of reports to be used as tools for decision making.[/b]

The evidences and pictures of our interview are on my blog site. http://jevaldez.blogspot.com/2009/07/mis-assignment-2.html

comments at http://roycuevas.blogspot.com/

On July 6, 2009, I with my fellow classmates we're scheduled for an interview about the best practices in Management Information System (MIS ) in Emcor Company, loacted at Jp Laurel, Bajada, Davao City. This is one of the assignment in our Management Information System (MIS ) under Dr. Randy S. Gamboa. We need to identify a local organization(s) or company and discuss some of their best practices in Management Information System (MIS ) and the risks associated with business and IS/IT change?I chose the Emcor as my company to interview regarding their Management Information System (MIS ). First I will give a brief introduction about the company which I adopt.





EMCOR

EMCOR is a 100% Filipino-owned retail business corporation specializing in appliances, furniture, IT products, motorcycles, and money transfer through its network of specialty chain stores in the Visayas, Mindanao, and Palawan areas. With the launching of our online store, EMCOR will now be making its presence known in the online industry and promote its company’s goals and vision to the global community.

EMCOR was founded by JESUS V. del ROSARIO in 1958 and we are currently under the JVR Foundation Inc.—one of the many companies of the JVR Group of Companies. Others include:

• Kawasaki Motors (Philippines) Corporation
• K-Servico Trade, Incorporated
• Wodel Incorporated
• Delsa Chemicals and Multi Products Incorporated
• International Wiring Systems Philippines Corporation
• Hecny Forwarders Incorporated
• Wodel Manpower Services

We carry a wide array of product lines like Panasonic, JVC, Philips, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Electrolux, La Germania, Whirlpool, FS Furniture, Sanyo, Canon, Brother, Epson, Toshiba, Acer, Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki and many others. We have also partnered with Western Union for our money transfer services. The core of our existence is our ability to provide high quality service to our customers by providing the right products at the right time, in the right place and at the right price.

We believe that as responsible members of our society, we at EMCOR should pursue our profit objectives in the spirit of service to the community. We believe in reconciling the profit motive of our Company with service to the nation. Thus, we strive to maintain a balance between the interests of our customers, employees, shareholders and the government by supporting national and local agenda for economic development, social reform, educational/scientific research, healthcare and environmental sanitation and preservation. To date, the JVR Foundation has given more than PhP200 Million in philanthropic work.

SERVICES:

1.) Motorcycle Repair

2.) Airconditioning Cleaning

3.) Appliance Repair

4.) Customer Inquiries

Source: http://www.emcor.com.ph/about.php


We formulated some questions regarding the Management Information System (MIS ) of their company. Mr. Nilo Ricafort was one who entertain us. He is the MIS/EDP Manager of the Management Information System (MIS ) department of the company. He was trained in Digital Interface about programming. He is also the first user of the computer in their company. The company Management Information System (MIS ) department has many personnel. These are some questions we had asked:


1.) What are the best practices in Management Information System (MIS) in their company?

The company have a security of their data or a Back-up for them to have a copy if there's a failure in their database system. They have programmers and system analyst who control the server of their database system.

2.) What are the advantages of their Management Information System (MIS) in the company?

In terms of transfering of data to the other network. They are fast and accurate of transfering the data. And if suddenly they have a failure in their server or the server shutdown they have a Disaster Recovery Position who recover the system.

3.) What are the disadvantages?

The Management Information System (MIS) Manager told us that they have a Disaster Recovery Position but they have no Disaster Recovery Site. The company looking forward for this plan to have a Recovery Site. Until now, the company system is not centralize. One disadvantage also is the incorrect data uploading.

4.) Do you think, you won't come this far without this Management Information System (MIS)?

Having an Management Information System (MIS) deaprtment is important to their company. It has a big help in the comapny in terms of computerization and technology. Mr. Nilo said that their system is manual without a computer. So that having a computer to their company is fast and accurate in the system.

This interview was a very informative to us because it gives us basic knowledge in Management Information System (MIS). It was a very great experienced to meet a person who shared there knowledge in the students like us about their companies best practices in Management Information System (MIS). Supposed to be the person we are looking is the Management Information System (MIS) Assistant Manager in their department but the Management Information System (MIS) Manager of the department entertain us that's why we're very thankful and honored because the person we interviewed was the manager. He is nice, friendly and professional.

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The New City Commercial Corporation is one of the leading company in Mindanao as well as the whole Philippines. NCCC is Considered one of the largest retailers and wholesalers of groceries and other goods in Davao and owner of the humongous NCCC Mall of Davao. Since starting out as a textile store in 1952 they continue to grow, expanding to different retail businesses and locations to serve more people. They strive to offer Service from the Heart first of all to their associates. They also maintain solid relationships with their business partners to provide a wide assortment of basic and unique merchandise.
June 4, 2009 – Saturday. We were scheduled to interview Engr. Irvin Rhey Miclat, the Supervisor of Hardware, Software and Networking services of New City Commercial Corporation located in Gempesaw St., Uyanguren. We interviewed Engr. Miclat in the NCCC Mall food court together with his loving wife. We asked him questions regarding our topic given to us by our instructor. He shared some ideas and gave us enough information about our questions. These information were enough to comply the tasks given to us.


These are the information that we have gathered from Engr. Miclat:


ICT Department of NCCC:

Information and Communications Technology Department or the ICT department of NCCC aims to be updated and interactive in terms of technology progress so that the company will be competitive enough and be able to be informed of the outgoing rise and development of technology industry. They are the one who handles the IT/IS of the New City Commercial Corp. and they are the one who are behind of the outgoing success of the company in terms of Information, Communication Technology. No wonder, NCCC is still competitive in terms of their technology.

Under the ICT department are:

Application Group, Hardware Software and Networking Services Group (which is headed by Engr. Miclat) and Operations Group.

• Applications Group – which is headed by a manager, In charge with Systems Development, Applications development & support.

• HARDWARE NETWORKING SOFTWARE - which is headed by a supervisor, involved with Hardware maintenance, Network maintenance, Applications Software maintenance, Infrastructure Software maintenance,

• OPERATIONS GROUP – which is headed by a supervisor
Assigned in MMS (Merchandise Management System ) : is an automated information system to keep track of the inventory in a warehouse or store. Usually the merchandise can be grouped into product lines. Thus, the MMS shows the exact number of products a business has in stock at any particular time.
an active role in the benchmarking, cost benefit and risk analyzes and definition of service needs.


Best Practices in IT/IS:

As what we’ve learned from the New City Commercial Corporation’s best practices in IT/ IS the Information and Communications Technology Department or ICT conducts or gives proper documentation to the management in every system or procedures that they normally do.

• operating Point of sale or point of service (POS or PoS) can mean a retail shop, a checkout counter in a shop, or the location where a transaction occurs.
• before the usage of POS by the end-users, there will be standard using operation done to ensure complete details and accurate information.
• in every changes and decisions done by the said department in terms of changing or switching to old system to new one, a business case or case study, and cost analysis must first take place and be conducted and of course this includes proper documentation.
•avoiding malpractice in recording issues(When the company provides extremely poor/good products or service.) in the company through proper documentation.

The Risks that are associated with business and IS/IT change:

The probable risks or challenges that their department might encounter are the changes or switching of their system and their security. As technology arises, the company must adopt to the fast changing environment in order for the company to be competitive and updated.

OPERATING SYSTEMS - is an interface between hardware and user; an OS is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of the computer. Cooperative memory management, used by many early operating systems assumes that all programs make voluntary use of the kernel's memory manager, and do not exceed their allocated memory. This system of memory management is almost never seen anymore, since programs often contain bugs which can cause them to exceed their allocated memory. If a program fails it may cause memory used by one or more other programs to be affected or overwritten. Malicious programs, or viruses may purposefully alter another program's memory or may affect the operation of the operating system itself. With cooperative memory management it takes only one misbehaved program to crash the system. If the Operating System will not be upgraded, risks like less security would occur and its vulnerability issues. These issues are hone to be used by the hacker to crack system and probably destroy the system. Therefore, they will be forced to upgrade in order to support the IT needs of their system.


Security (FIREWALL → UTM DEVICE)

FIREWALL - is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting authorized communications.
UTM DEVICE - good UTM device offers battle-tested technology. Many times vendors build a UTM device around one all-star feature, sacrificing the quality of others for an overwhelming breadth of defense.
In order for the company to secure their system and their necessary data, they should upgrade their security to the newer one. With this, they may be able to conduct their business safely. But prior to this changes, the ICT department must conduct a business study or a case to study to analyze the difference of each security and to consider also its cost.




References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.nccc.com.ph/



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Company Profile:


New City Commercial Corporation

- are all about people: Our associates, our customers, our business partners and our community. Since starting out as a textile store in 1952 we continue to grow, expanding to different retail businesses and locations to serve more people.

We strive to offer Service from the Heart first of all to our associates. We also maintain solid relationships with our business partners to provide a wide assortment of basic and unique merchandise that offers

We are proud of our journey and we continue to pay tribute to our founders and history by living up to our core values of humility, caring, hard work, excellence and fun. We live for our vision to be A Leader Who Cares.
http://www.nccc.com.ph/index/about/

Based on the orgnaization(s) that you visited, what do you think are the risks associated with business and IS/IT change?


NCCC is one of the companies in regard of merchandising /retailing and having service to the Pilipino people .They showcase the need of the people ,they provides jobs and render service in the community.

NCCC starts only from one commercialize center that works manually for their documentation until they become a corporation that adopt the IT /IS change for the better management and improvement of their services and be a competitor.

They have associates many department that enables outgoing services to people and plan for the development of the company as the ICT department . These department has 3 groups which are the following:

Application Group
-they are the one responsible for Systems Development, Applications development & support, Lead programming and database administration

Hardware Network /Security Group
-they are the one responsible for the security ,maintenance of their network and even software.

Operation Group
-they are the one responsible for controlling the price of every product in each retailers.
- inventory in a warehouse or store
-cost benefit and risk analyses and definition of service needs.

At exactly 3:30 pm last July 04,2009 we have interviewed the supervisor of Hardware Network /Security Group Engr. Irvin Miclat since the ICT director is on business transaction outside the city.

As we interviewed him he clarified that they don’t treat IT/IS change is a risk but a “challenge” to their company. He shared to us that every time IS/IT change before you adopt that changes they should have a business plan where they analyze the cause and effect possibilities in decision making.

When there is IT/IS change their company they planned of adopting for enhancement of the services of the company .He site an example that the company had experienced.

For the past years they don’t maintain the product price so the retailer can manipulate price for their customer .They could corrupt their client and even cheat in their salary invoice. In short, they is no systematic pricing .For them to comply their needs they adopt the MMS (Merchandise Management System) where the can handle
The following:

• Vendor management
• Price management
• Promotion management
• Financial control
• Merchandise receiving, allocation and replenishment
• Inventory control and procurement

They planned for the possibilities which could enhance the improvement of the company .Infact thay planned of online purchasing. But they have also site a issues that such as a connectivity problem. NCCC is on the way for developing there IS/IT for the better services




The possible risk of IT /IS changes are the following:
• Budget
• Training
• Compatibilities issues
• Company issues

Operating System:
• They use open source software such Open office
• They do not limit an OS
• Open to use other possible OS as long as it has advantage in the business.
• They are standardized
• If old OS support ends they planned possibility of transferring into upgrade one.


Security
• They use UFM for the defense of unnecessary virus
• Possible of adopting other upgrade firewall in maintenance the security


Role of ICT Department
• Implement job order
• Message coordinator
• Automated controlled price over the company
• Document events
• Security

Here are some possibleRisk of IT/IS change base on the net.

Impact of information systems on organizations and markets

The adoption of information technology (IT) in organizations has been growing at a rapid pace. The use of the technology has evolved from the automation of structured processes to systems that are truly revolutionary in that they introduce change into fundamental business procedures. Indeed, it is believed that "More than being helped by computers, companies will live by them, shaping strategy and structure to fit new information technology [25]." While the importance of the relationship between information technology and organizational change is evidenced by the considerable literature on the subject, 1 there is a lack of comprehensive analysis of these issues from the economic perspective. The aim of this article is to develop an economic understanding of how information systems affect some key measures of organization structure
http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=20061190159072CI&q=information technology and Information system change&uid=787412752&setcookie=yes

Managing risk during information technology change

With new technology as one of the key drivers to maintaining competitive advantage and sustained success in the insurance sector, change is one of the few constants within the sector. Any change, especially fast-paced change creates risk – on a technical as well as operational level. Risk that needs to be recognised, evaluated and managed if insurance organisations and their customers are to benefit, rather than suffer, from change, says Chris Thornton, director of Finance Sector Business Development at ITNET, an information technology, business consulting and business process outsourcing company.






http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=20061190159072CI&q=information+technology+and+Information+system+change&uid=787412752&setcookie=yes






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