Basic Concepts The Work Centered Analysis Framework

Processing Résumés Using Resumix

Processing Résumés Using Resumix CUSTOMER Manager who needs to hire an employee Applicant who receives responses about a job application Government agency that receives reports about compliance to equal opportunity guidelines PRODUCT List of applicants who fit the criteria Selected data items about each applicant Automatically generated rejection letters

Processing Résumés Using Resumix BUSINESS PROCESS Major Steps: Define the criteria for selecting applicants Receive résumés Scan résumés and extract data Select applicants meeting criteria and forward their résumés to the hiring manager Send out rejection letters Track the hiring process Store applicant data for future searches Rationale: Instead of finding appropriate candidates by searching through paper résumés, extract the information on the résumés and do the search automatically.

Processing Résumés Using Resumix PARTICIPANTS Human resources employees Manager doing the hiring INFORMATION Description of job opening Scanned résumés converted into a database format List of qualified applicants TECHNOLOGY Résumix software Scanner Unidentified computers

DEBATE TOPIC The technology is Resumix is designed to convert a resume into a series of fields in a database regardless of what the initial resume looks like. Statements that don’t match these specific fields aren’t recognized. Does the use of this technology imply that a company does not care about the individuality of the applicants?

They both help us understand complexity INTRODUCTION Framework - brief set of ideas about organizing a thought process about a concept.It helps by identifying topics that should be considered and shows how they are related. Models - useful representation of reality. The describe or mimic reality without dealing with the details They both help us understand complexity

A Classification of Models Iconic Models Analog Models Mathematical Models Mental Models

Iconic and Analog Models Iconic (scale) models - the least abstract model, is a physical replica of a system, usually based on a different scale from the original. Iconic models can scale in two or three dimensions. Analog Models - Does not look like the real system, but behaves like it. Usually two-dimensional charts or diagrams. Examples: organizational charts depict structure, authority, and responsibility relationships; maps where different colors represent water or mountains; stock market charts; blueprints of a machine; speedometer; thermometer

Mathematical Models Mathematical (quantitative) models - the complexity of relationships sometimes can not be represented iconically or analogically, or such representations may be cumbersome or time consuming.A more abstract model is built with mathematics. Note: recent advances in computer graphics use iconic and analog models to complement mathematical modeling. Visual simulation combines the three types of models.

Mental Models People often use a behavioral mental model. A mental model is an unworded description of how people think about a situation. The model can use the beliefs, assumptions, relationships, and flows of work as perceived by an individual. Mental models are a conceptual, internal representation, used to generate descriptions of problem structure, and make future predications of future related variables. Support for mental models are an important aspect of Executive Information Systems. We will discuss this in depth later.

Examples of Models

Viewing Businesses as Systems A business is a system consisting of many subsystems, some of which are information systems. Definition: A system is a set of interacting components that operate together to accomplish a purpose. Key ideas: purpose, boundary, environment, inputs, outputs. Businesses can be considered as systems consisting of business processes. A process’s value added is the amount of value it creates for internal or external customers.

Viewing a firm as a System

The Value Chain The set of processes a firm uses to create value for its customers is called its value chain. The value chain contains both primary processes and support processes. The value chain is important because the way business processes are organized in a firm should be related to the way the firm creates value for customers. Understanding how the value chain is “supposed” to work is the first step in improving business processes.

Primary processes for a hypothetical restaurant

The Functional Areas of a Business Large subsystems of a firm related to specific business disciplines are often called the functional areas of the business. Examples: Production, Sales and Marketing, Finance. Most Businesses are organized around these functional areas. Sometimes there can be organizational inertia where organizational members focus on the functional areas instead of the customer. Functional areas are important, but they should not be the basis for studying information systems

Business Processes and Functional Areas

Functional Areas in a Typical College or University Admissions Records and Registration Financial Aid Bursar Human Resources Accounts Payable Budget, Finance, and Accounting Academic Department University Advancement Student Services Residence Life Public Safety Physical Plant Student Career Development

The Context of Information Systems….

The System We Are Talking About…. A work system is a system in which human participants perform a business process using information, technology, and other resources to produce products for internal or external customers. The core of a work system is a business process, a related group of steps or activities that uses people, information, and other resources to create value for internal or external customers. Work is the application of human and physical resources to generate outputs used by internal and external customers.

Information System vs. Work Systems Bar code scanners and computers identify the items sold and calculate the bill Work system supported by the information system: Performing customer checkout Aspects of the work system not included in the information system: Establishing personal contact with customers, putting the groceries in bags University registration system permits students to sign up for specific class sections Work system supported by the information system: Registering for classes Aspects of the work system not included in the information system: Deciding which classes to take and which sections to sign up for in order to have a good weekly schedule Word Processing system used for typing and revising chapters Work system supported by the information system: Writing a book Aspects of the work system not included in the information system: Deciding what to say in the book and how to say it

Information System vs. Work Systems Interactive system top managers use to monitor their organization’s performance Work system supported by the information system: Keeping track of organizational performance Aspects of the work system not included in the information system: Talking to people to understand their views about what is happening System that identifies people by scanning and analyzing voice prints Work system supported by the information system: Preventing unauthorized access to restricted areas Aspects of the work system not included in the information system: Human guards, cameras, and other security measures

WCA framework for thinking about any system in business

Example: Who is a toy factory’s customer?

Relationship between data, information, and knowledge

WCA framework for thinking about any system in business

Five Perspectives for Understanding a Work System ARCHITECTURE What are the components of the system that performs the work and who uses the work product? How are the components linked? How do the components operate together? PERFORMANCE How well do the components operate individually? How well does the system operate? (How well is the work performed?) How well should the system operate? INFRASTRUCTURE What technical and human infrastructure does the work rely on? In what ways does infrastructure present opportunities or obstacles? CONTEXT What are the impacts of the organizational and technical context? In what ways does the context present opportunities or obstacles? RISKS What foreseeable things can prevent the work from happening, can make the work inefficient, or can cause defects in the work product? What are the likely responses to these problems?

Important Point Improvements in a work system are usually related to the links between the architecture and the performance perspectives. Customer satisfaction is largely determined by product performance. Product performance is determined by a combination of product architecture and the internal work system performance. Note: efficiency vs. effectiveness

From work system architecture to customer satisfaction

Detailed Discussion of the Five Perspectives: Architecture Performance Infrastructure Context Risks

Architecture, Perspective #1 Architecture is a summary of how a work system operates. It focuses on the components of the system and how those components are linked, and how they operate together to produce outputs. It is not merely a technical issue; IT and business professional involved with a system need to understand how it operates. It is impossible to build an information system without detailed documentation of information and technology components of the architecture. We use successive decomposition for documenting and summarizing architecture. Process operation and process characteristics

Architecture, Perspective #1

Architecture, Perspective #1 CUSTOMER Customer’s entire cycle of involvement with the product Requirements Acquisition Use Maintenance Retirement PRODUCT Components Information content Physical Content Service content (more in Chapter 6)

Architecture, Perspective #1 BUSINESS PROCESS Process operation: Processes providing inputs Sequence and scheduling of major steps Processes receiving the outputs Process characteristics: Degree of structure Range of involvement Level of integration Complexity Degree of reliance on machines Linkage of planning, execution, and control Attention to exceptions, errors, and malfunctions More to be covered in Chapter 3….

Architecture, Perspective #1 PARTICIPANTS Formal and informal organization: Job responsibility Organization chart INFORMATION Major data files in the database: Data organization and access TECHNOLOGY Major components: Hardware Software

Performance, Perspective #2 Performance - How well the system operates. A complete analysis involves qualitative and quantitative measurements. Consider some performance variables….

Performance, Perspective #2

Performance, Perspective #2 CUSTOMER Customer Satisfaction PRODUCT Cost Quality Responsiveness Reliability Conformance to standards and regulations

Performance, Perspective #2 BUSINESS PROCESS Rate of output Consistency Productivity Cycle time Flexibility Security

Performance, Perspective #2 PARTICIPANTS Skills Involvement Commitment Job satisfaction INFORMATION Quality Accessibility Presentation Prevention of unauthorized access TECHNOLOGY Functional capabilities Ease of use Compatibility Maintainability

Comparing Vague Descriptions, Measurements, and Interpretations ACCURACY OF INFORMATION Vague description: The information doesn’t seem very accurate. Measurement: 97.5% of the readings are correct within 5%. Interpretation:This is (or is not) accurate enough, given the way the information will be used. SKILLS OF PARTICIPATION Vague description: The sales people are very experienced. Measurement: Every salesperson has 5 or more years of experience; 60% have more than 10 years. Interpretation:This system is (or is not) appropriate for such experienced people. CYCLE TIME OF BUSINESS PROCESS Vague description: This business process seems to take a long time. Measurement: The three major steps take an average of 1.3 days each, but the waiting time between the steps is around 5 days. Interpretation:This is (or is not) better than the average for this industry, but we can (or cannot) improve by eliminating some of the waiting time. QUALITY OF THE WORK SYSTEM OUPUT Vague description: We produce top quality frozen food, but our customer’s aren’t enthusiastic. Measurement:65% of our customers rate it average or good even though our factory defect rate is only.003% Interpretation: Our manufacturing process does (or doesn’t) seem O.K., but we do (or don’t) need to improve customer satisfaction.

Infrastructure, Perspective #3 Infrastructure: Essential Resources shared with other systems. Infrastructure failures may partially be beyond the control of people who rely on it (e.g. power outages). Evaluation is difficult because the same infrastructure may support some applications excessively and others insufficiently. Critical mass, having enough users to attain desired benefits, may be a key infrastructure issue. Distinguish between infrastructure and the supporting technology (laptops used in the sales process vs. used for company e-mail).

Infrastructure, Perspective #3 Technology can be infrastructure if it is outside the work system, shared between work systems, owned and managed by a central authority, or when details are largely hidden from users. Business professionals are often surprised at the amount of effort and expense absorbed by human infrastructure.

Infrastructure, Perspective #3

Infrastructure, Perspective #3 CUSTOMER Technical and human infrastructure the customer must have to use the product PRODUCT Infrastructure related to information content Infrastructure related to physical content Infrastructure related to service content

Infrastructure, Perspective #3 BUSINESS PROCESS Infrastructure related to internal operation of the process Infrastructure related to inputs from other processes Infrastructure related to transferring the product to other processes

Infrastructure, Perspective #3 PARTICIPANTS Shared human infrastructure INFORMATION Shared information infrastructure TECHNOLOGY Shared technology infrastructure

Context, Perspective #4. The organizational, competitive, and regulatory environment surrounding the system. The environment around the system may create incentives and even urgency for change. The personal, organizational, and economic parts of the context have direct impact through resource availability. Even with enough monetary resources, context factors ranging from historical precedents and budget cycles to internal politics can be stumbling blocks. Incentives Organizational Culture Stakeholders

Context, Perspective #4

Context, Perspective #4 CUSTOMER PRODUCT Issues in the customer’s environment that may affect satisfaction or use Business and competitive climate PRODUCT Substitute products Ways the customer might bypass this type of product altogether

Context, Perspective #4 BUSINESS PROCESS Organizational culture Concerns of stakeholders Organizational policies and initiatives Government regulations and industry standards

Context, Perspective #4 PARTICIPANTS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Incentives Other responsibilities and job pressures INFORMATION Policies and practices regarding information sharing, privacy, etc. TECHNOLOGY Technology policies and practices Technology that may become available soon

Risk, Perspective #5 Risks: Foreseeable Things that can go wrong in terms of: accidents and malfunctions computer crime project failure (To be considered again in Chapter 13….)

Risk, Perspective #5

CUSTOMER PRODUCT Risk, Perspective #5 Customer dissatisfaction Interference by other stakeholders PRODUCT Inadequate or unreliable products Fraudulent products

Risk, Perspective #5 BUSINESS PROCESS Operator error Sloppy procedures Inadequate backup and recovery Mismatch between process requirements and participant’s abilities Unauthorized access to computers, programs, data

Risk, Perspective #5 PARTICIPANTS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Crime by insiders or outsiders Inattention by participants Failure to follow procedures Inadequate training INFORMATION Data errors Fraudulent data Data theft TECHNOLOGY Equipment failure Software bugs Inadequate performance Inability to build common sense into information systems

Technical vs. non-technical. Systems Analysis Systems Analysis is different for the business professional than from the system builder. Technical vs. non-technical. Think of what will happen in the future when systems building tools become more effective for non-programmers.

Steps in systems analysis for business professionals

Identify the purpose of the analysis and scope of the work system. Defining the Problem Identify the purpose of the analysis and scope of the work system. Tradeoffs - broad vs. narrow. Constraints priorities system snapshots

Using the WCA for a “System Snapshot”

Definitions of Topics in a System Snapshot CUSTOMER Product used by: Internal or external customers who use or receive direct benefit from the product Other stakeholders: People who have a significant stake in the work system or its product even though they do not use the product directly and do not participate directly in the work system Infrastructure requirements: Infrastructure the customer should have to use the product effectively

Definitions of Topics in a System Snapshot PRODUCT Information content: The aspects of the product that consist of information Physical content: The aspects of the product that consist of physical things Service content: The aspects of the product that consist of services performed for specific customers

Definitions of Topics in a System Snapshot BUSINESS PROCESS Major steps: Listing the major steps in this business process Rationale: The overriding idea or approach that determined the process would be performed using the current approach rather than another Processes providing inputs: External processes outside the work system that produce inputs of information, physical things, or services needed in order for this business process to operate Processes receiving the product: The customer’s processes that receive and use the product of this work system

Definitions of Topics in a System Snapshot PARTICIPANTS People who perform the work Shared human infrastructure INFORMATION Created or modified within this system Received from other work system TECHNOLOGY Technology within the system Shared technology infrastructure

The 10 Issues in the Work-Centered Analysis Method Systems analysis step 1. Define the problem 2. Describe the current work system in enough depth and 3. Design potential improvements 4.Decide what to do Corresponding issues for thinking about a system Issue 1: Problem Definition Issue 2: Improvements from product changes Issue 3: Improvements from process changes Issue 4: Improvements related to work system participants Issue 5: Improvements from better information Issue 6: Improvements from better technology Issue 7: Improvements from shared infrastructure Issue 8: Improvements related to the business context Issue 9: Improvements from risk reduction Issue 10: Recommendation

Common Systems Analysis Pitfalls Related to Elements of the WCA Framework

Common Pitfalls - WCA Elements Customer ignore customer and the fact that the customer should evaluate the product. Treating managers as customers even though they don’t use the product directly. Product forget that the purpose is to produce a product or service for a customer. Forget that the product of a work system is often not the product of the organization.

Common Pitfalls - WCA Elements Business Process Define process so narrowly that improvement is of little consequence. Define process to widely that it is too complex. Confuse business process measures(consistency and productivity) with product measures (cost to the customer and quality perceived by customer). Think of business process as theory and ignore its support by participants, information, and technology Participants ignore incentives and other pressures focus on users rather than participants.

Common Pitfalls - WCA Elements Information assume better information generates better results. Ignoring the importance of “soft” information not captured by formal systems. Technology assume better technology generates better results. Focus on the technology without thinking about whether it makes a difference in the work system.

Common Pitfalls - Five Perspectives Architecture over emphasis on architectural details confusion related to people’s roles Performance Tendency to ignore performance tendency to exaggerate the scope of work system performance. Infrastructure Tendency to ignore infrastructure issues

Common Pitfalls - Five Perspectives Context tendency to ignore incentives, organizational culture, and non-participant stakeholders when designing systems. Risks tendency to assume system will operate as planned.