Chapter 6

The chapter begins with why the cloud will be utilize more and more in the future. It will also discuss how technology makes the cloud work and the ways organizations can use it. The chapter goes overs local networks and how it functions with the web. This also includes the purpose of the cloud and its basic technologies. Finally, it will review how each organizations use the cloud, the basic steps of setting up the cloud and its security.
Q1: Why is the cloud the future for most organizations?

Organizations are moving their computing infrastructure to the cloud.  Leasing computing infrastructure from the cloud will become common practice. The cloud itself is an elastic leasing of pooled computer resources via Internet. Elastic means it automatically adjusts for unpredictable demand and limits financial risks. Now pooled is the same physical hardware itself or economies of scale, for instance like Amazon.com’s CloudFront. Without increase in servers, response time of seconds or more, is far too long to maintain attention of viewer. So economies of scale consider the average cost decreases as size of operation increases. The major cloud vendors operate enormous data centers such as web farms. The cloud is preferred to in-house hosting because of the small capital requirements, speedy development and known cost structure. This also includes no obsolescence, superior flexibility and adaptability to grow or fluctuating demand.  However, the negatives of the cloud are dependency on vendors, loss of control over data location and little security measures. The cloud is used now because of cheap processors, essentially free data communication and storage. The cloud also uses virtualization technology, internet-based standards enable flexible and standardized processing capabilities. The cloud doesn’t make sense when the law or standard industry practice require physical control or possession of the data. For instance, a financial institution is legally required to maintain physical control over its data.

Q2: What network technology supports the cloud?

There are four basic types of computer network technology that support the cloud. Personal area network helps devices connected around a single person. The local sear network are computers connected at a single physical site. Wide area network are computers connected between two or more separated sites. Finally, another basic type of network is the internet and internets which is networks of networks. For example, a typical small home office LAN like most computers today would support 10/100/1000 of Ethernet. There are thee various LAN Protocol with different speeds and connections, such as wired or wireless LAN. Also Bluetooth transmits data short distances and can connect to a computer, keyboard, mouse, printer, smartphones and cars. Communications speeds expressed in bits, memory sizes in bytes. For example, communications equipment can be represented by K(ilo) = 1,000, M(ega) = 1,000,000 and G(iga) = 1,000,000,000.  Connecting your LAN to the internet how important ISP functions. The three are to provide legitimate Internet address, provide gateway to Internet and pay access fees and other charges to telecoms. Gateway function is when a ISP receives the communications from your computer and passes them on to the Internet, and receives communications from the Internet and passes them to you.

Q3: How does the cloud work?

The cloud resides in the internet so assume you send a message to a server somewhere. The message is too big to travel in one piece, so it’s broken into packets and each packet passes along from WAN to WAN until it reaches destination. Once all packets arrive, message reconstructed, delivered to server for processing. All accomplished by computers and data communications devices that most likely have not interacted before. Now the hop is the movement from one network to another. Carriers are messages, broken into packets. These Packets move across the Internet, passing through networks owned by telecom carriers. So peering agreements are carriers that freely exchange traffic amongst themselves without paying access fees. Net neutrality principle considers all data is treated both equally however the problem is some people use more bandwidth than others.

IP Addresses and Domain Names:

There are two internet addressing, Public IP addresses and Private IP addresses. Public IP addresses Identifies a unique device on Internet and is assigned by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Private IP addresses identifies a device on a private network, usually a LAN and the assignment LAN is controlled. The purpose is these protocols manage traffic as it passes across an internet /Internet. Most important protocol in transport layer is TCP. Private/public IP address scheme two major benefits attackers cannot send attack packets to private IP addresses. Most common IP addresses format is IPv4. A domain name is a unique name affiliated with a public IP address, dynamic affiliation of domain names with IP addresses and can have multiple domain names for same IP address. A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is an Internet address protocol, such as http:// or ftp:// followed by a domain name or public IP address. ICANN administers system for assigning names to IP addresses. Domain name a worldwide-unique name affiliated with a public IP address. Affiliation of domain names with IP addresses is dynamic. Owner of domain name can change affiliated IP addresses at its discretion.

Three Tier Architecture:

Almost all e-commerce applications use a three-tier architecture. First, user tier consists of computers, phones, other devices with browsers that request and process Web pages. Second, a server tier consists of computers running Web servers and application programs. Finally, a database tier consists of computers running a DBMS that processes SQL requests to retrieve and store data. So a commerce server is an application program that runs on server-tier computer. Receives requests from users via Web server, takes some action, and returns a response to users. Typical commerce server functions are to obtain product data from a database, manage items in a shopping cart, and coordinate checkout process. Only Internet protocols a business professional likely to encounter are at application layer. These are four standards that are used extensively for Web services and the cloud: WSDL, SOAP, XML and JSON. 

Four Standards of Web Services and Cloud

Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is the standard for describing services, inputs, outputs, other data supported by a Web service. Documents coded machine readable and used by developer tools for creating programs to access the service. SOAP is a protocol for requesting Web services and for sending responses to Web service requests. Extensible Markup Language is used for transmitting documents. Contains metadata to validate format and completeness of a document, includes considerable overhead. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a markup language used for transmitting documents. Contains little metadata. Preferred for transmitting volumes of data between servers and browsers. While notation in format of JavaScript objects, JSON documents can be processed by any language

Q4: How do organizations use the cloud?

Organizations can use the cloud in several different ways. By far most popular, is to obtain cloud services from cloud service vendors. The three fundamental of cloud types are SaaS, PassS and laaS. Content delivery networks from cloud vendors stores user data in many different geographical locations and makes data available on demand. It also can have specialized type of PaaS, but usually considered in its own category, minimizes latency and is used to store and deliver content seldom changed.

Q5: How can Falcon Security use the cloud?

Absent some unknown factor such as a federal tax on Internet traffic. Individuals on iCloud or Google Grid, to small groups using Office 365, to Small companies like Falcon Security Parts using PaaS, to huge organizations using IaaS.

Q6: How can organizations use cloud services securely?

Organizations realize the benefits of cloud technology without succumbing to those threats. VPN technology uses public Internet to create appearance of a private connection on secure network. Virtual means something that appears to exist but, in fact, does not. Remote Access using VPN is an apparent connection as it appears to the remote user. Accessing a private cloud over a virtual private network is when a VPN client software encrypts messages so their contents are protected from invasions. Private clouds provide security within the organizational infrastructure but do not provide secure access from outside that infrastructure. In order to provide such access, organizations set up a VPN and users employ it to securely access the private cloud. Organization can store most sensitive data on own infrastructure, and store less sensitive data on VPC. Thus, organizations required to have physical control over some of their data can place it on own servers and locate rest on VPC.

Q7: 2026?

Cloud services new categories of work that is faster, more secure, easier to use, cheaper. Fewer organizations own their computing infrastructure. More pooling of servers across organizations and overall size of the cloud gets bigger. Individuals, small businesses, large organizations obtain elastic resources at very low cost. Remote action systems: Telediagnosis, Telesurgery and Telelaw enforcement which provide services in dangerous locations.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 discusses the process and supporting on information systems in the levels of an organization. It explores the way organizations uses three types of processes and how they use information systems. The chapter talks about process quality and how it can improve the information system. Then explains information systems in one level of an organization and how it leads to problems in silos. Also how these silo problems can be solved at the next level of the organization. The chapter also goes into enterprise systems such as CRM, ERP and EAI. Then how these inter enterprise IS can solve enterprise level silos. Last, how the future in implications of mobility and the cloud of the future enterprise and interenterprise IS.

Q1: What are the basic types of processes?

First, they’re a network of activities that generate value by transforming inputs to outputs. The basic types of processes are human only processes, human processes with computer help, computer only processes. There’s a difference between structured processes and dynamic processes. Structured processes are formally defined, standardized processes involving day-to-day operations. This also includes accepting a return, placing an order, purchasing raw materials, and so forth. Dynamic processes are flexible, informal, and adaptive processes normally involving strategic and less structured managerial decisions and activities. Now processes that use the three levels of organizational are workgroups, enterprises and inter-enterprises. Workgroup help a workgroup to accomplish a goal.  Workgroup IS used to support one or more IS processes. Enterprise processes spanning multiple departments. Enterprise IS support enterprise processes. Inter-enterprise processes that require cooperation amongst different entities. The workgroups represent six of the nine value-added activities. There are various characteristics of information systems. Characteristics of departmental information systems are summarized in Workgroup. Often, procedures are formalized in documentation, and users frequently receive formal training in use of those procedures.

Q2: How can information systems improve process quality?

Processes are means people use to organize an activity to achieve organization’s goals. Two dimensions of process quality are efficiency and effectiveness. Information systems can improve by process efficiency which is the ratio of outputs to inputs. Better quality can be achieved by process effectiveness which is how well a process achieves organizational strategy. So processes can be improved either by change process structure, change process resources and change both. In addition, process quality can include performing an activity, meaning partially automated or completely automated. Also, augmenting human performing activity or controlling data quality to ensure data is complete and correct before continuing process activities.

Q3: How do information systems eliminate problems of information silos?

First what are the problems of information silos? The problems of information silos are data duplicated, data inconsistency, data isolated, disjointed processes, lack of integrated enterprise information., inefficiency: decisions made in isolation, increased cost for organization. The reason an information silo exist, is to isolate data in separated information systems. Information system silos arise when either IS supports departmental processes rather than enterprise-level processes. Also when personal and workgroup support applications are created over time. This includes growing organizations, especially by merger and acquisitions. The problems of information silos are duplicated or inconsistent data. Which may be separate supporting applications causing difficulty for two activities. These activities are to reconcile their data, getting approvals will be slow and possibly erroneous Another problem is the lack of integrated enterprise data as a consequence of disjointed systems. The problem of inefficiency results from making decisions in isolation. Finally, Information silos increase costs because of duplicated data, disjointed systems, limited information, and inefficiencies. Information silos solve problems in organizations by isolating data created by workgroup information systems and integrates using enterprise-wide applications. It also isolates data created by information systems at an enterprise level and are integrated into inter-enterprise systems using distributed applications. So it integrates into a single database, revise applications and allows isolation.

Q4: How do CRM, ERP, and EAI support enterprise processes?

Over time, three categories of enterprise applications have emerged: customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning and enterprise application integration. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is supported by CRM, ERP and EAI because it integrates data. CRM, ERP and EAI uses enterprise processes systems to create stronger, faster, more effective linkages in value chains. It is also difficult, slow, exceedingly expensive to support enterprise processes. Key personnel determine how best to use new technology so it requires high-level expensive skills and considerable time. For instance, a business needs to determine how best to change its processes to take advantage of new capability. Enterprise Application Solutions uses inherent processes which can be consider “Industry Best Practices” and is a predesigned process for using application. Organizations can license software and obtain prebuilt procedures. Customer relationship management is the suite of applications, database, set of inherent processes. It also manages all interactions with customer through four phases of customer life cycle. This includes marketing, customer acquisition, relationship management, loss/churn and supports customer-centric organization. The customer life cycle is an application process of a common customer database. This system eliminates duplicated customer data and removes the possibility of inconsistent data. ERP Applications primary purpose is integration and are an IS based on ERP technology. ERP is a database and a set of inherent processes for consolidating business operations into a single, consistent, computing platform. Enterprise Application Integration connects systems, enables communicating and sharing data. It also provides integrated information, integrated layer on top of existing systems while leaving functional applications “as is and enables gradual move to ERP.

Q5: What are the elements of an ERP system?

There are 5 elements to an ERP system, which includes hardware, ERP application programs, ERP databases, business process procedures and consulting. ERP applications integrate supply chains, manufacturing, CRM, human resources and accounting. There are various ERP solution components such as applications and databases. ERP application programs configurable vendor applications compare to ERP databases. Vendor applications can be altered without changing program code. Set configuration parameters specifying how ERP application programs will operate. ERP databases uses a computer program within database to keep database consistent when certain conditions arise. ERP enforces business rules and stores business processes and procedures.

Q6: What are the challenges of implementing and upgrading enterprise information systems?

 There are five challenges to implementing and upgrading enterprise information systems. The challenges are collaborative management, requirement gaps, transition problems, employee resistance and New technology. Also, implementation is challenging, difficult, expensive, and risky. It is not unusual for enterprise system projects to be well over budget and a year or more late.

Q7: How do inter-enterprise IS solve the problems of enterprise silos?

Q8: 2026?

Companies want to move to lower costs of the cloud, but cannot plunge into new cloud-based solutions without causing considerable organizational turmoil, if not failure. Delicate balance between risk of loss and improvement to processes. Machines able to employ ERP system to schedule own maintenance. ERP customers store most of their data on cloud servers managed by cloud vendors and store sensitive data on their own servers