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284 Chapter 7 Processes, Organizations, and Information Systems

ACtIve revIew

Use this Active Review to verify that you understand the ideas Q6 What are the challenges of
and concepts that answer the chapter’s study questions. implementing and upgrading enterprise
information systems?
Q1 What are the basic types of
processes? Name and describe four sources of challenges when imple-
menting enterprise systems. Describe why enterprise systems
Define structured and dynamic processes and compare and management must be collaborative. Explain two major tasks
contrast them. Define workgroup processes, enterprise pro- required to identify requirements gaps. Summarize the chal-
cesses, and inter-enterprise processes and explain their differ- lenges of transitioning to an enterprise system. Explain why
ences and challenges. Define those same levels of information employees resist change, and describe three ways of respond-
systems. Define functional systems and functional applications. ing to that resistance.

Q2 How can information systems improve Q7 How do inter-enterprise IS solve the
process quality? problems of enterprise silos?

Name, define, and give an example of two dimensions of Describe information silos that exist among healthcare provid-
process quality. Name and describe three ways that organiza- ers, health clubs, and individuals with regard to patient exer-
tions can improve process quality. Name and describe three cise data. Describe problems that those silos create. Explain
ways that information systems can be used to improve process how the system shown in Figure 7-19 will solve the problems
quality. caused by those silos. Define distributed systems, and explain
the benefits of SOA using Web services when implementing
Q3 How do information systems eliminate such systems.
the problems of information silos?
Q8 2025?
Define information silo, and explain how such silos come into
existence. When do such silos become a problem? Describe Name the two major challenges that ERP vendors face, and
the two types of silos in Figure 7-6, and explain the meaning explain how vendors must respond in order to thrive in 2025.
implied by the two arrows. Explain the opportunity that these challenges create for you.
Explain why these vendors’ past success is a current hin-
Q4 How do CRM, ERP, and EAI drance. Summarize the complications of mobile ERP access.
support enterprise processes? Describe how workers in 2025 might use mobile devices with
ERP systems.
Define business process reengineering, and explain why it is
difficult and expensive. Explain two major reasons why devel- using Your Knowledge
oping enterprise information systems in-house is expensive. with priDe
Explain the advantages of inherent processes. Define and dif-
ferentiate among CRM, ERP, and EAI. Explain how the nature Knowledge of this chapter will help you understand the fun-
of CRM and ERP is more similar to each other than that of EAI. damental value offered by solutions like PRIDE; namely, the
elimination of the problems of enterprise-level information
Q5 What are the elements of an ERP silos. As you now know, silos that are caused by workgroup
system? processes can be eliminated (or managed, in the case of EAI)
with enterprise systems. Similarly, silos that are caused by en-
Describe the minimum capability of a true ERP product. terprise processes can be eliminated with inter-enterprise sys-
Explain the nature of each of the following ERP solution com- tems like PRIDE. Also, the knowledge of this chapter prepares
ponents: programs, data, procedures, and training and con- you to understand the difficulty of adapting and of managing
sulting. For each, summarize the work that customers must inter-enterprise systems. Finally, Figure 7-19 helps you under-
perform. List the top five ERP vendors in decreasing order of stand how mobile devices and a cloud database can be used to
market share. implement an inter-enterprise system.