ch02_infoforcollaboration.ppt

Using MIS 2e
Chapter 2
Information Systems for Collaboration
David Kroenke
Edited by Spiros Velianitis
© Pearson Prentice Hall 2009 2-1

Study Questions
 Q1 – What is collaboration?
 Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team
communication?
 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
 Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow?
 Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision
making?
 Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem
solving?
 Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project
management?

communication?
making?
solving?
management?

Q1 – What is collaboration?
 Collaboration occurs when two or more people work
together to achieve a common
– Goal
– Result
– Work product
 Greater than individuals working alone
 Involves more than coordination and communication alone
 Feedback and iteration provide an opportunity for team
members to:
– Proceed in a series of steps (iterations) by continuously reviewing
and revising each other’s work
– Learn from each other rather than working in isolation
– Change the way they work and what they produce
– Ultimately produce a product that’s greater (and better) than an
individual could accomplish working alone

Q1 – What is collaboration?
 The three critical collaboration drivers are:
– Communication
• The success of the collaboration group depends on the
availability of effective communication systems that allow
them to share their skills and abilities
– Content management
• Users need to manage the content of their work to avoid
conflicting with other team members.
– Workflow control
• Workflow is a process or procedure to create, edit, use, and
dispose of content.

 Q2 – How can you use collaboration
systems to improve team communication?
making?
solving?
management?

Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems
to improve team communication?
 Synchronous communication
– Team members meet at the same time, but not necessarily at
the same geographic location.
– It may include conference calls, face-to-face-meetings, or
online meetings.
 Asynchronous communication
– Team members do not meet at the same time or in the same
geographic location.
– It may include discussion forums or email exchanges.

Fig 2-1 Information Technology for Communication

 Virtual meetings don’t require everyone to be in the same place at
the same time.
– Conference calls – can be difficult to arrange the right time
– Multiparty text chat – easier to arrange if everyone has mobile texting
– Videoconferencing – requires everyone to have the proper equipment
– Email – most familiar but has serious drawbacks in content
management
– Discussion forums – content is more organized than email
– Team surveys – easy to manage but don’t provide very much
interactive discussion

communication?
 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems
to manage content?
making?
solving?
management?

to manage content?
Fig 2-5 Information Technology for Sharing Content
 There are three categories for sharing content.
Your choice depends on the degree of control your
team needs to complete their tasks

to manage content?
 The following methods of sharing are effective but
provide no control over content management.
– Email attachments are the most primitive but have numerous
problems.
• Someone may not receive the email or ignores it.
• It’s difficult to manage attachments.
– A shared file server provides a single storage location for all
team members.
• It uses FTP technology to access files.
• Problems can occur if multiple team members
try using the same file at the same time.

to manage content?
 These methods of content sharing provide version
management
– Wikis
– Google Docs and Spreadsheets
– Microsoft Office Groove

to manage content?
 Wikis are shared knowledge bases, repositories of team
knowledge, which have or use tracking mechanisms for
changes.
 Most commonly known wiki is wikipedia.com.

to manage content?
 Google Docs and Spreadsheets
– Access it at http://docs.google.com with a Google account
(different from a Gmail account).
– Documents are stored on Google servers making them
accessible from anywhere.
– Team members can track revisions and review change
summaries.
– It’s a free service but you must use Google programs for
processing.

to manage content?
 Microsoft Office Groove
– You create a workspace and invite others to join.
– Document changes are automatically provided to all team members.
– You can use VoIP rather than separate phone lines for
conversations.
– You can use it asynchronously or synchronously.
– You can use any computer or server to access workspaces.
– Each user must purchase a license and install it on each computer
(may be exceptions).

to manage content?
 Shared content with version control provides more limitations than
version management and more control over changes to documents.
– It uses shared libraries (directories) to store documents.
– Users are given permissions that limit what they can do with
the documents.
– It requires users to check out documents and check them back
in.
– Microsoft SharePoint is the most popular for business use.
• It requires a publicly accessible server.
• It’s difficult to install.

communication?
 Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems
to control workflow?
making?
solving?
management?

to control workflow?
 Sequential workflow
– When documents are reviewed by multiple members of a team one
after another
 Parallel workflow
– When documents are reviewed by multiple members of a team
simultaneously
 SharePoint site
– Defines workflows and ensures team members perform required
tasks (http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-
us/Pages/Videos.aspx?VideoID=1 )

communication?
 Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration
systems for decision making?
solving?
management?

Information Systems for Decision Making
 Decision making in organizations is varied and complex.
 Decisions occur at three levels in organizations (decision
levels):
 Operational decisions concern day-to-day activities.
– Information systems that support operational decision making are
called transaction processing systems (TPS).
 Managerial decisions concern the allocation and utilization
of resources.
– Information systems that support managerial decision making are
called management information systems (MIS).
 Strategic decision making concern broader-scope
organizational issues.
– Information systems that support strategic decision making are
called executive information systems (EIS).

Information Systems for Problem Solving
 Information systems can be used to solve problems.
 Problem definition
– A problem is a perceived difference between what is and what is
not.
– A problem is a perception.
– A good problem definition defines the differences between what is
and what ought to be by describing both the current and desired
situations.
– Different problem definitions require the development of different
information systems.
– All personnel in the organization must have a clear understanding
of which definition of the problem the information system will
address.

Decision Making and Problem Solving
 Problem solving is the most critical activity a business organization
undertakes. Problem solving begins with decision making.
 In the intelligence stage, potential problems and /or opportunities are
identified and defined
 In the design stage, alternative solutions to the problem are developed
 In the choice stage, a course of action is selected
 In the implementation stage, action is taken to put the solution into
effect
 In the monitoring stage, the implementation of the solution is evaluated
to determine if the anticipated results were achieved and modify the
process

The Decision Process
 Two decision processes (method by which a decision is to
be made) are structured and unstructured.
 Structured decision process is one for which there is an
understood and accepted method for making the decision.
 Unstructured process is one for which there is no agreed on
decision making process.
 The terms structured and unstructured refers to the decision
process-not the underlying subject.

Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems
for decision making?
Fig 2-15 Collaboration Needs for Decision Types

Optimization, Satisficing, and Heuristic
 Optimizing is finding the best solution and is usually best
fit for problems that can be modeled mathematically with a
low degree of estimation risk. For example, find how many
products an organization should produce to meet a profit
goal.
 Satisficing is finding a good, but not necessarily the best,
solution. Satisficing does not look at all possible solutions,
but at those that are likely to give good results. Satisficing
is a good decision method because it is sometimes too
expensive to analyze every alternative to get the best
solution. A satisficing example is when you have to select a
location for a new plant.
 Heuristics are guidelines or procedures that usually find a
good solution by using “rules of thumb”.

Different Types of Information Systems for
Different Types of Decisions
 Automated information systems are those by which the
computer hardware and program components do most of
the work.
– Humans start the programs and use the results.
 Augmentation information systems are those in which
humans do the bulk of the work.
– These systems augment, support, or supplement the work done by
People (email, instant messaging, video-conferencing, etc) to aid in
decision making.

communication?
making?
systems for problem solving?
management?

for problem solving?
 Collaboration systems provide team members with
feedback and iteration that helps them:
– Identify numerous solution alternatives rather than just
one.
– Make a choice by allowing them to discuss the pros and
cons of each alternative.
– Broker the selected solution and make necessary
adjustments that benefit all parties.

for problem solving?
 Problem solving and collaboration systems are more
effective when they successfully employ the three
collaborative drivers:
– Communication systems that allow a regular and reliable
exchange of ideas and information
– Content-management systems that control document changes
and revisions so everyone has the most current version
– Workflow control is less important because of the nature of the
unstructured decision-making process

communication?
making?
solving?
systems for project management?

for project management?
 The three collaborative drivers are important to ensure the
success of a project.
– Communication systems help decision makers communicate with
one another and deal with unexpected problems as they occur.
– Content-management systems control document changes and
revisions that occur during the project.
– Workflow control is important because of task dependencies
inherent in projects.

Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project
management?
Fig 2-17 Collaboration Systems for Decision Making, Problem Solving & Project
Mgt

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