Mid-Term Exam #2
Study Guide – C. O’Donnell
Understand the primary characteristics and benefits of an ERP system, and the primary criteria for is successful
implementation.
It is highly recommended that you re-read all of the assigned readings for unit 3. You should create a simple study
guide for each reading, identifying the three main points of the reading, and three additional facts/points included in
the reading. You should particularly focus on the following readings:
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“Putting the Enterprise into Enterprise Systems”
“The Decision Making Process”
“How NBA Player Analytics Opened Up A Whole New Business For SAP”
“The Real Reason Organizations Resist Analytics”
“CEA’s 5 Tech Trends for 2015: From Big Entertainment to Small Business”
“Build vs. Buy: How to know when you should build Custom Software over Canned Solutions”
“9 Tips for selecting and implementing an ERP System”
“What We Know, Now, About the Internet’s Disruptive Power”
“Leagues see real benefits in daily fantasy sports”
Understand the challenge with and the different types of knowledge involved in Knowledge Management.
Understand the premise and key points involved in the concept of Open Innovation.
Understand the advantages and disadvantages of both custom designed, proprietary software vs, ‘canned’ off the
shelf software.
Know the primary focus and differences between OLTP vs. OLAP classes of IT systems. What is the focus of each
of these primary IT systems?
Understand the concept and implications of ‘The Long Tail’ with regard to e-commerce.
Tips for the Case Study:
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Read the narrative carefully, as it fully describes the ‘scenario’ for the case study, defines the basic business
model involved, and identifies the primary ‘players’ in the case study; e.g. entities, attributes, and actors.
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Remember that the swim lane diagram is designed by the Business Analysts, to address the organizational
problem and requirements, establish the process model, and to identify ‘who needs & does what’.
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The ERD diagrams are then developed by the Systems Analysts, to establish what types of IT systems are
needed and how the databases need to be structured. The focus with the ERD is to identify the Entities and
their attributes, and establish the relationships and meaningful connections between the entities.