2/23. Project Grading Template
2/14. QUIZ STUDY GUIDE
2/12. Check out a recent news story on data mining and eCommerce:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-201-4732719-0.html
2/11. New grade distribution: case(s) - 20%, quiz - 20%, final - 30%,
research project - 30%.
If you choose to do an optional case writeup, the final case grade
will be the average of the two.
2/5. The current version of the web logs handed out in class can be accessed at: http://stern.nyu.edu/webstats
2/4 - In the syllabus, there are two readings for Monday. One is the Mendelson reading in the packet. The other is "Analysis of NYU Web Logs". For the latter, please check out the following: http://www.nyu.edu/stats/summary/index.html (Not critical to do before class.)
1/30 Sun -- Be sure that your PowerPoint slides (with speaker's notes if you use them) always answer the question 'why?' Why are your points important? Are they of equal importance? Why should anyone follow your recommendations? etc.
Several people said that they are having difficulty locating 'technical information' and understanding 'some of the IT jargon' associated with this case. Prof. Uretsky has placed a reference book with the IS receptionist on the 9th floor. This book was published by PwC as a technical guide for their non-techie executives. Feel free to use it or copy pages. There might be additional copies available at Bobst or on the PwC web site. I hope that this helps you.
Important! We had a long talk with OCD and other people teaching in the Spring (esp. 1/2 semester) courses regarding the pressure and workload across the board. The following decisions were made in light of that discussion. (1) The first quiz scheduled in the course has been cancelled. (2) The second case now is optional. I will update you on the new allocation of points in computing the grade. I hope that this additional flexibility helps to make this a meaningful experience in the course and school.
1/29 - In reading message I forwarded via email, it occurs to me that
it may be misinterpreted.
As I discussed in class, if you include *more* information in the speaker's
notes, that is fine. Whatever is appropriate for making your
argument. I want
to reemphasize, though, that you should not feel obliged to write paragraphs
for
each slide: a few sentences may suffice.
Also, see tidbits.
1/26 - Be sure to check out http://www.sun.com/research/features/brazil/;$sessionid$KDMQSHAAADTEVAMTA1FU3NQ
for Sun information on a neat follow-on
project. How does this project relate to the case?
1/22 - As a follow-up to today's in-class administrative discussion, the assignments and deliverables scheduled for 1/29 will be due on 1/31 and the assignments and deliverables scheduled for 1/31 will be due on 1/29 -- reverse the two days.
MSFT renames Windows and Office (Feb 5)
Jan 1, 2001. Intelligent Enterprise's annual
"IE Dozen" identifies 12
leading IT solutions providers as the "most influential"
in enabling
businesses to leverage IT for strategic advantage.
Many of these
companies have strong data mining and business
analytics offerings.
The companies are:
1. i2 Technologies
2. EMC Corporation
3. IBM Corporation
4. Oracle Corporation
5. Tibco Software
6. Microsoft Corporation
7. Business Objects
8. webMethods, Inc.
9. E.piphany, Inc.
10. ILog
11. Xchange, Inc.
12. Intel Corporation
The Dozen, along with the
additional 12 Companies to Watch, are selected
by the magazine's
editors after assessing a year's worth of coverage,
research, and
reader feedback. An extended feature about this
editorial selection
appears in the January 1, 2001 edition of the publication,
and on the
Web at http://www.iemagazine.com.
These 3rd tier systems (as drawn on the board) included DB, ERP, and
TP Systems.
1) DB systems are database systems, or database management systems,
often called DBMSs.
Databases are structured stores of data, typically in various,
business-specific "tables", whose rows are called "records" and whose
columns contain the values of "fields." For example, records
in
a customer table may contain fields such as the customer's name,
a unique id, his address, and so on. A product table might contain
similar information for products. A purchase "relation" (just
another table) might associate customers with products. This
obviously
over simplifies, but I hope gives the basic idea.
Users as well as systems issue "queries" against the database, using
a
query language such as SQL (Structured query language--the standard).
Most electronic commerce systems present information to users not
simply as static web pages, but by issuing queries to a back-end data
base, and then building the response web page on the fly.
The "DBMS", as separate from the database itself, controls the
organization, storage, retrieval, security and integrity of data in
a
database. It accepts requests (queries) from the application and
instructs the operating system to transfer the appropriate data.
DBMSs let information systems be changed more easily as the
organization's requirements change. New categories of data can be
added to the database without disruption to the existing
system. Adding a field to a record does not require changing any of
the programs that do not use the data in that new field.
Database management traditionally is one of the primary business IS
functions, and it sits at the interface between the information
technology and the business knowledge. Database designers and
business
users should carefully design databases, so that appropriate queries
can be made. There is database theory that IS workers are taught
about good vs. bad database design.
b) ERPs, including CRM systems and SCM systems. See your notes
from
the third class. If you have specific questions on material that
was
unclear, or that requires further elaboration, please let me know.
c) "TP" or Transaction Processing systems. These are important,
and
we have a class devoted to them later. The gist is that it is
technically complicated to ensure that everything in a multi-part
transaction goes well -- for example, you can't ship the product and
have the system fail to update the billing database. From an
IT
management perspective, it is essential that systems be designed
carefully. From a general management perspective, it is important
to
recognize the existence of the problem, and to know the options for
its solutions. We will concentrate on the latter. If you're
interested in more information about the former, come and talk to me.
Class
1 - 1/17/2001
Class 2 - no slides
Class
3 - 1/24/2001
Class 4-6 - no slides
Class
7 - 2/7/01 (Mission-critical) - notes
Class
8 - 2/12/01 (Data Mining) - notes
Class
9 - 2/14/01 (Personalization) - notes
Class
10 - 2/21/01 Dell/Impact on Management - notes
Special
supplementary notes: impact on management - Financial Information eXchange
Classes
11 & 12 - 2/26/01 & 2/28/01 Impact on Markets - notes
Some
extra notes from B2B discussion