PART 2
END-USER INFORMATION SYSTEMS:
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
In Part 2, the emphasis is on understanding requirements of individuals and work groups and selecting
or designing appropriate software solutions to meet identified business needs. It provides an important
foundation for helping students develop systems analysis skills. Students are usually much more
familiar with analyzing software product features and doing feature comparisons among products from
the perspective of personal preferences. They are often more impressed with bells and whistles than
with basic functionality. (By the way, 80-90% of product features often go unused in typical real life
applications—perhaps because insufficient attention is given to understanding business needs.) Asking
students to relate product features to user needs may be a new experience. Typically, the limited work
experience of most students can be a challenge when teaching this section. When doing activities related
to software application packages, the authors suggest having students evaluate features for a specific
situation or in the context of a given scenario. Then emphasize best fit for the situation rather than
feature preferences. Chapter 3 includes a section on evaluating software packages.
In the discussion of productivity tools throughout this section, you will find the focus on improving
individual, work group and organizational performance. It offers a sampling of current hardware and
software tools but is not intended to be all-inclusive or to suggest limitations of tools to particular
personnel or tasks. You may want to add discussion of other genre or packages not covered here. The
objective here is to expand horizons for identifying innovative business solutions. As the e-business
revolution continues to sweep the workplace, the use of information technologies by knowledge workers
is no longer optional. Strive to help students understand that competitive advantage no longer comes
from using technology per se, but from using it to innovate to provide better products and services in the
marketplace.
Chapter 3, "Productivity Tools for Individuals" focuses on individual work requirements at all levels of
the enterprise. It looks especially at the needs of individuals in four major categories--managerial,
professional/technical, sales/marketing, and administrative support--in the light of changing workplace
demands and new practices such as customer relationship management and e-business. A variety of
software solutions are discussed in relation to their ability to improve individual performance, including
desktop productivity tools, activity management, end-user computing, communications, decision
support, and sales and marketing automation. The chapter also offers specific guidelines for evaluating
software features and matching them to user needs.
Chapter 4, "Work Group Computing," provides an overview of the promises and challenges related to
effective groupware choices and implementation. Groupware is described as a useful infrastructure to
support teams, departments, and organizations. The chapter explores a wide range of increasingly
sophisticated communications and decision support technologies and how these tools are enabling
virtual work and challenging virtual workers and their managers.
Chapter 5, "Knowledge Management," explores the emergence of an important new discipline intended
to systematically and actively manage and leverage knowledge and experience within an organization.
The past decade has witnessed the rapid evolution of concepts such as the knowledge worker,
knowledge economy, intellectual capital, and knowledge as a tangible asset. Knowledge management
programs have been launched at countless companies. Management of organizational knowledge may
be especially relevant in flattened or networked organizations where layers of management have been
eliminated to
help members of teams and task forces maintain ties to other specialists in their field.
Chapter 3
Productivity Tools for Individuals
Learning Objectives
After completing this chapter, students should be able to:
 Identify characteristics of managerial work and relate them to requirements for EUIS.
 List characteristics of useful information for decision making.
 Give examples of useful productivity tools for managers and explain how they improve
performance.
 Describe the characteristics of professional and technical work and relate them to requirements for
productivity tools.
 Discuss end-user computing, offering reasons for its growth.
 Evaluate the impact of word processing as an authoring tool.
 Discuss the impact of information technologies on medical and legal practices.
 Describe characteristics of sales and marketing work and relate them to requirements for effective sales
solutions.
 List examples of productivity tools for sales applications and describe how they affect performance.
 Identify major administrative applications for EUIS technologies.
 Understand the basic concepts of office support.
 Differentiate between the word processing needs of clerical and administrative personnel in a
production environment and those of casual users such as managers and knowledge workers.
 Explain how technology is changing the roles of secretaries, administrative assistants, and office
clerical workers.
 Discuss how the prevalence of digital networks is changing administrative services.
 Discuss the problems in managing information in digital, image, and paper formats.
 Describe image processing systems, and explain how they can be used to improve workflow and
business processes.
Lecture Outline
3.1
3.2.
Introduction
Understanding Needs of Individuals
3.2.1 Analyzing Managerial Work
3.2.1.1 Understanding How Managers Work
3.2.1.2 Managers’ Information Dilemma
3.2.1.3 The Changing Management Climate
3.2.2 Analyzing Professional and Technical Work
3.2.2.1 Understanding the Needs of Professional and Technical Knowledge Workers
3.2.3 Analyzing Sales and Marketing Work
3.2.3.1 Characteristics of Sales and Marketing Work
3.2.4 Analyzing Administrative Support
3.2.4.1 Characteristics of Administrative Work
3.2.4.2 Administrative Assistants
3.2.4.3 Paraprofessionals
3.2.4.4 Mail Services Personnel
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.2.4.5 Records Management Personnel
3.2.4.6 Clerical Accounting and General Clerical Personnel
3.2.4.7 Reprographics Personnel/Graphic Services
3.2.4.8 Forms Design Personnel
3.2.4.9 Facilities Management Staff
3.2.5 Computers in the Professional Office
3.2.5.1 Legal Offices
3.2.5.2 Medical Offices
Matching User Needs to Software Solutions
3.3.1 Defining User Needs
3.3.2 Clarifying Business Objectives
3.3.3 Evaluating Alternative Software Packages
Evaluating Productivity Tools for Individuals
3.4.1 Desktop Productivity Tools
3.4.2 Activity Management
3.4.2.1 Calendar Management
3.4.2.2 Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
3.4.3 Communications / Networking
3.4.3.1 Voice Mail Systems
3.4.3.2 Electronic Mail
3.4.3.3 Smart Phones and Wireless Communicators
3.4.3.4 Desktop Business Meetings
3.4.4 Decision Support
3.4.4.1 Decision Modeling
3.4.4.2 Data Warehousing, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Datamining
3.4.4.3 Project Management
3.4.4.4 Geographical Information Systems (GIS) / Visualization
3.4.4.5 Statistical and Mathematical Analysis
3.4.4.6 Executive Support Systems (ESS)
3.4.5 Desktop Publishing / Multimedia
3.4.6 Web Publishing
3.4.7 End-User Computing (Programming)
3.4.7.1 Fourth Generation Languages
3.4.8 Customer Relationship Management
Summary
Chapter Overview
Selecting and implementing productivity tools for individuals begins with understanding how users
work and, most importantly, how that work can be changed or transformed through the use of
information technology. It is seldom sufficient just to provide new tools. Effective use of desktop
productivity tools and other information technologies requires transforming the way work is done, not
merely automating what is currently done or adding on some new technology solutions. This chapter
focuses on individuals at all levels of the enterprise in light of changing workplace demands and new
practices such as customer relationship management and e-business. It looks especially at the needs of
individuals in four major areas: managerial, professional/technical knowledge workers, sales and
marketing, and administrative support. The chapter begins with needs analysis, then discusses the
process of matching individual needs to software solutions, and finally looks at various genres of
productivity tools with the emphasis on determining how they fit user needs.
The discussion of analyzing managerial work focuses on how managers work and the changing
management climate. It is important for students to recognize that the goal in implementing technology
today is more often to change business practices rather than to automate existing practices. Thus
understanding the business objectives is key to prescribing appropriate solutions. Today's fast-paced
competitive world demands new and better ways for managing organizations. Help your students
understand that the problem today is often too much information rather than not enough, compounding
the age-old problem of “putting one’s finger on the right information at the right time.” Effective
systems, especially for managers, should also aid in filtering out irrelevant information in order to focus
on pertinent and timely facts needed for decision making. The discussion about useful information in the
section, Managers’ Information Dilemma, provides a framework for discussing this issue. (Useful
information must be significant, reliable, consistent, timely, comprehensible, and action-oriented.) It
may make an interesting discussion to relate these characteristics to student writing requirements for
reports and exams.
Knowledge workers make up a growing percentage of the work force. These well-trained and
specialized personnel exercise considerable autonomy in carrying out their responsibilities. Their work
usually requires a high degree of specialized training and education and mental, rather than physical
effort. Check to see that students understand who knowledge workers are and the types of activities their
jobs involve.
Programming (application development) by non-IS technical workers is frequently referred to as enduser computing (EUC), a term carried over from technical data processing terminology as explained in
Chapter 1. Although in some contexts, EUC is considered a synonym for EUIS, the authors’ feel that the
text definition is more consistent with business usage. End-user computing is defined as computer
applications developed or maintained by an end-user area whose management accepts responsibility for
the integrity of the results. EUC is used primarily to support local business functions and to build
decision support environments. When end-users need access to corporate information from enterprise
production systems, they work with the IS department to define their requirements so IS can then
prepare and deliver the needed data. Newer technologies, such as datawarehouses, are making access to
corporate data more readily available for EUC. The idea that users could do some of their own
computing was revolutionary when first introduced in the 1970s. IS versus user control and access to
data are still issues in many enterprises.
Sales and marketing, which have been fairly resistant to technology in the past, is being turned upside
down by e-commerce. The Internet has given customers a direct line, access to product information,
ability to comparison shop or purchase online. It is changing the dynamics and opening up many new
opportunities to more closely connect with customers and enhance service. Sales and marketing
positions vary considerably depending on the nature of the product or service and the industry.
Administrative support and clerical workers provide a diverse network of support services that keep
information flowing into, within, and out of the enterprise. Increased use of productivity tools, digital
networks, and business restructuring continue to have significant impact on clerical and administrative
positions.
By far the most widely-used application for administrative personnel, as it is for all other personnel, is
word processing. The important thing to emphasize in teaching this chapter is the difference in
requirements for word processing software for administrative personnel. Whereas ease of use is
important for the casual user, volume production requirements and complex documents call for
powerful word processing programs with specialized features designed specifically to meet output
demands. The increased complexity of the more powerful word processing programs does not present
the same problems for the power user as it does for the casual user. With the broad popularity of
sophisticated platforms such as the Microsoft Office Suite, the issues today may be less related to
software selection as they are to appropriate training and implementation of product features. Overall,
features of basic desktop software—including word processing—are grossly underutilized, thereby
severely limiting the benefits and performance improvements that have been achieved.
Software evaluation is a systematic process for matching product features against required functionality
and comparing alternative software packages. The process begins by defining user needs and clarifying
business objectives. Information gathered during this process is usually turned into an evaluation form,
which serves as a framework for systematically evaluating software features and comparing alternative
packages. Final selection of the solution is usually a matter of tradeoffs, with users preferring some
features in one package and different features in other packages. The final decision should represent the
best overall fit.
The range of productivity tools for individuals today is extensive. This chapter provides a sampling of
available tools, including desktop productivity tools, activity management, communications /
networking, decision support, end-user computing, desktop publishing, web publishing, and sales and
marketing automation. The focus is on factors to consider in choosing among alternative packages
rather than on details about product features.
Teaching Suggestions
1.
Create a class demonstration to help students appreciate the trade-offs involved in how different
products implement software features. Select an application genre such as spreadsheets, accounting,
multimedia, database, presentation software, or word processing, and select three of four
representative products from different vendors. Set up the same basic example with each product.
Demonstrate and discuss the tradeoffs in the way each product handles the example. What limitations
were encountered? Was there a significant difference in the effort required to accomplish the same
task? Do some products offer options not available in others? Is there any difference in the quality of
the output? Do any of the differences you identified have implications for work requirements or
personal work styles?
This suggestion could also be handled as a student assignment. Organize students into groups to work
on developing the examples and then sharing their experiences with the rest of the class.
2.
Have students scan the job ads in your local papers for a couple of weeks to look for
professional/technical positions that include computer skills among the qualifications (such as
experience with Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, Microsoft Office Suite, Web design, etc.) What skills appear to
be most in demand?
3.
Assign students to interview (individually or in pairs) someone they know who is a
professional/technical knowledge worker to find out what capabilities are available on his or her
desktop platform and what applications are most important in the performance of his or her job.
Have students summarize their interviews in a one or two page report. Encourage them to include
sample documents, if possible. In addition, you might have students give brief oral reports so that the
entire class will benefit.
4.
Invite a sales representative to speak to your class about the use of laptop computers or other sales
force automation systems. Ask the sales representative to bring a laptop along to illustrate some of the
software if s/he is agreeable (use a projection device).
Links to Related Web Sites/Case Studies
Note: Please visit the text Web site at www.prenhall.com/regan to access these links and possible
changes to their URLs.
www.iaap-hq.org.
Website for the International Association of Administrative Professionals.
www.officeteam.com.
The Office Team website provides much interesting information and research related to the
changing workplace. OfficeTeam is a firm that specializes in administrative staffing.
www.aba.com.
American Bar Association Law Practice Management
http://4.21.247.201/magazine_article.asp?artnum=11934 (7/21/00)
http://4.21.247.201/magazine_article.asp?artnum=11935 (7/21/00)
www.smamag.com.
Website for Sales and Marketing Automation Magazine.