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Chapter 8 Exercises

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Principles of MIS

© 2008 by Jerry Post
  1. Find at least two Web-based services that support web cams when you call another person using a computer-to-computer link. If possible, find the cost of the service.
  2. Research and compare the meeting capabilities and costs of at least two products (e.g., Microsoft Live Meeting, Cisco MeetingPlace, Cisco WebEx). Assume you want to use the system for an hour-long presentation to 100 of your sales representatives so that you can demonstrate several new products. Which product would you choose and why?
  3. Research the costs of installing several Microsoft collaboration servers, including Communicator, Groove, and SharePoint.
  4. For each of the following business situations, identify the collaboration method you would use and briefly explain why.
    1. A finance director wants to provide information to all of her employees to keep them up to date on company and accounting-rule changes.
    2. A small company faces a new, large competitor and needs to find a new marketing strategy to compete.
    3. An engineering department needs to create chemical data sheets, update them, and make them available to all workers who use the chemicals. Many of the workers know more about the chemicals than the manager.
    4. A marketing consultant has several basic ideas for a new advertising campaign and 4-6 people in the company want to see the ideas and provide feedback.
    5. A company has just received a large government contract to develop and manage a new environmental program. It will involve a couple hundred people and take an estimated two years. The company is hoping to win similar contracts in the future.
  5. Identify a specific decision for which it would be helpful to use a group decision support system. Explain the benefits of using the GDSS for your problem.
  6. Describe a business situation in which you would need to implement information rights management controls. Describe the specific rights you would assign.
  7. Microsoft is trying to get the Office 2007 XML document format accepted as a standard. Research the format and summarize the discussion. Is XML a better format than ODF? Hint: The docx format (and others) are zipped folders. If you rename the docx suffix to zip, you can view the contents.

    8. Toolbox logoTechnology Toolbox

  8. As a team project, if you have access to a SharePoint server, have one person create a small document that describes a computer that he or she might wish to purchase. Set change subscriptions on the document for each team member. Then over the next few days, have members make changes to the document, with suggestions for different components. As team members are notified of changes, they should check the suggestions and either accept or reject them by adding additional comments.
  9. Use a SharePoint server to discuss a recent movie. Include links to other review sites and if possible upload image files or movie clips. Create a calendar to assign tasks to each team member. The final result should be a formal review of the movie. Be sure to include your instructor as a team member.
  10. With at least two people, choose an industry and assign a firm in the industry to each person. Set up a Groove workspace. Have each person retrieve sales and profit data for the assigned firm. Use the workspace to build a spreadsheet that combines the data from each firm to draw charts displaying revenue and profits for each firm.
  11. Set up Windows Meeting Space and create a meeting with at least three people. Together, build a short PowerPoint slide show to come up with a new marketing campaign for an automobile manufacturer (pick one).
  12. Compare Meeting Space to One Note/Live Sharing. If you do not have access to the software, use the Microsoft documentation to evaluate the features of the two products. Which tool would you prefer to use for a small team project and why? Test both tools if you have access to them.

    13. Teamwork logoTeamwork

  13. As a group project, assume that each person in the group is a manager of a different department. Each person creates a spreadsheet to list the salespeople in his or her department (4 to 10), their hours worked, total sales, and commissions. Compute the totals for each column. Once the individual spreadsheets have been created and stored on separate computers, the group will create a composite spreadsheet that brings in the data from each individual spreadsheet. Compute the corporate total and draw pie charts for each column. If possible, use dynamic linking across the network to capture the data from the individual spreadsheets.
  14. Using SharePoint, have one person write a short document. Use workflow to send it to each of the other team members for feedback. Submit the final document with the feedback to the instructor.
  15. Using Groove, (or SharePoint if Groove is not available) configure a workspace for a project to evaluate cell phones. Use the tools to discuss the features and try to agree on a common cell phone that could be purchased by a company for each of the team members. Hand in the final document and recommendation, with the discussion comments.
  16. Using SharePoint (or download the Wiki software), create a Wiki to describe the features in SharePoint. Have each person contribute a section on a specific feature. Identify features that are unique to the Enterprise version.
  17. Connect as many people as possible using a single instant messenger or chat room system. As a topic, discuss a current movie. What problems do you encounter? Should you limit these types of meetings to a certain number of people? What would be the maximum?

    18. Rolling Thunder Bicycles logoRolling Thunder Database

  18. If you have access to a SharePoint server, set up a team site to discuss production issues. Generate queries to show production delays over time. Put the data into a spreadsheet and graph it. Create a discussion group for the spreadsheet and discuss possible reasons for any issues.
  19. If you have the Groove client software, set up a workspace and build a spreadsheet to display and chart U.S. retail sales of bicycles for at least six years. Each person should keep notes on which sites were searched and where data was found. Comment on any differences in data found and produce a best-estimate chart.
  20. Describe the hardware and software Rolling Thunder should install so that all employees can coordinate schedules and conduct 15-minute meetings every day.
  21. Inventory management has been a little out of line. Define a business process management plan for purchasing components from suppliers. Choose software that will enable you to set up the process.
  22. Identify documents that Rolling Thunder should protect with an information rights management system and briefly describe the desired rights.
  23. What information would you recommend placing in a knowledge management system for Rolling Thunder Bicycles?
  24. Explain how version control would be useful for designing the bicycles at Rolling Thunder. Find software that could provide version control.