...case search [pic] logging in & registering [pic] finding a case [pic] on-line inspection copies [pic] ordering [pic] FAQs [pic] help [pic] feedback [pic] [pic] product details Top of Form Title: VISIONARY DESIGN SYSTEMS: ARE INCENTIVES ENOUGH? **prize winner** Reference: 9-495-011 Product type: Case Author(s): Baker, G; Monsler, K Publisher: Harvard Business Publishing Topics: Bonuses; Employee compensation; Incentives; Service management; Silicon Valley Publication year: 1994 Version date: 14 April 1995 Length: 20 pages Data source: Field research Status: Active [pic] Abstract: A compensation case about a small, high-tech firm based in Silicon Valley with eleven offices throughout the country. Visionary Design Systems (VDS) began as a sales company selling Hewlett-Packard's Computer Aided Design systems, and grew rapidly into a full-service systems integrator. All employees, including engineers, administrators, and receptionists, received a significant portion of their income from commissions and bonuses, and all were shareholders. The company espoused a philosophy of empowerment, under which all employees were given substantial decision-making authority, and were expected to act in the interests of the firm. Examines in detail one group that, although it had both the authority and the incentives to exploit a new market opportunity, continued to wait for top management's instructions...
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...HRM Session 7: Visionary Design Systems Topline: VDS sells high end CAD systems alongside customization, integration and training services. As regards employment, the philosophy is empowerment combined with high rewards. Company has been lauded by media, but is currently having difficulties with a critical division – Product Data Management. Business Context: CAD (Computer Aided Design) tools have revolutionized product design and workflow processes since their introduction in the early 1970s • Changes design process from two dimensional to three dimensional, significantly reducing design time by eliminating the need to draw product from all angles and modify each drawing every time there was a change • Although systems were expensive at the outset, by 1994 a basic system could cost as low as $7500. • By 1990s the CAD market is segmented. Low price products are also low margin. High end products include additional functionality, eg solids modeling, and retail for up to $75,000 per seat. High end is 25% of the market. High end CAD systems usually required a partner company to integrate and train the purchaser Broader applications were developed off the back of CAD, further streamlining the product design process • Engineering Analyis Tools: computer simulations of testing (eg heat, breakability etc) to detect design flaws earlier and save on costs of real testing. Significantly reduces length of typical product design cycle • Product Data Management: stores...
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...Analysis of Visionary Design Systems An analysis of the PDM problem at Visionary Design Systems reveals multiple challenges that all ultimately result in the failure of the company to significantly grow its PDM segment of business. The founding fathers of the company recognized that PDM was a critical market for their company and the long term goal of their company was in systems integration, so that their customers would properly implement CAD hardware and software systems. The Missions, Goals and Tactics were not developed until the company had been in business for three years. Though the founders communicated with the employees, their Mission, goals and tactics didn’t support their long term objective. Both their compensation system and their ratio of sales representatives to applications engineers and service specialists reflect the fact that the founders desired business growth more than support and integration, even though the greater profit margins were in consulting and training. Because of the complexity of PDM, two product specialists were hired, but they were unable to increase revenue because PDM required customer support that VDS was unable to provide because neither the sales force,nor the application engineers understood PDM well enough to support it. In order to increase its PDM segment of business, VDS must reestablish a business plan that reflects its long term objectives. The leaders of the company must obtain operating capital to allow for the...
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...Harvey Nichols Strategic Marketing Plan for Norfolk [Name] [Class/Course] [Date] Mission To establish outlets in Norfolk so that the company’s high quality luxury clothing and other products will become accessible to the people of Norfolk and other parts of East England. The company wants to bring closer to the people of Norfolk the high quality products Harvey Nichols offer to its customers around the world. Ambition To provide the people of Norfolk in the eastern region of England with high quality luxury clothes and inspire the region’s residents to become highly fashionable. Financial Objectives The company aims to establish up to three outlets in the next three years in Norfolk, Eastern England with an objective of garnering at least 10% of the market in the county. In financial terms, the outlets are expected to contribute significantly in the company’s revenue and profit-generation. Market Audit Norfolk is a shire county in East England with an estimated population of 840,700 (Norfolk County Council 2008). It is the fifth largest county in England exhibiting the fastest growth in population. The county has seven local districts, the three biggest of which in terms of population are King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Norwich and Breckland. Norfolk is governed by a county council dominated by the Conservatives. Norfolk’s main industries are agricultural production and food processing. These industries compose the bulk of employment in...
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...for this course is the creation of a System Proposal Document. In any modern enterprise, it is crucial that all of the different stakeholders, users, inputs, and outputs that relate to the business’s IT systems coalesce in a logical and cohesive way for the systems to be effective. As a member of an IT team, your overarching goal is to ensure that the IT systems ultimately do what the business needs them to do. In this course, you have learned about the key principles and practices underlying the analysis, design, implementation, and management of IT systems. In this final project, you will apply this knowledge by creating a systems proposal document. The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Module Two, Module Four, Module Six, and Module Eight. The final submission will occur in Module Nine. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes: Assess the relationship of systems analysis, design, implementation, and development processes as they relate to the management of information technology systems Communicate the paradigms, processes, and activities of systems development to diverse audiences Apply structure and object oriented analysis modeling techniques to analyze, design, and manage information technology systems Construct written and visual representations...
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... © International University of Management 2009 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publishers. International University of Management 59 Bahnhof Street Private Bag 14005 Windhoek Telephone (264 61) 245150/84 Fax (264 61) 248112 E-mail: ium@ium.edu.na Website: www.ium.edu.na TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 System Development Fundamentals System Design Methods Structured System Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) Rapid Application Development (RAD) Joint Application Development (JAD) Skilled Small Team Development End of Chapter Questions Chapter 2 The Design and Implementation Process End of Chapter Questions Chapter 3 Assessing Systems Impact Prototyping End of Chapter Questions Chapter 4 Design for User Tasks and Organizational Requirements Stages of a BPR Development Project End of Chapter Questions Chapter 5 System Implementation and Security User Involvement Change Over Strategies End of Chapter Questions References MODULE OUTCOMES • Differentiate and access different system design methods. • Evaluate different systems implementation issues. ...
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...The system planning and selection stage addresses the needs or opportunities that can be achieved by an IT proposal. During this step, we must consider all current priorities that would be affected and how they should be handled. Before any system planning is done, a feasibility study should be conducted to determine if creating a new or improved system is a viable solution. This will help to determine the costs, benefits, resource requirements, and specific user needs required for completion. The development process can only continue once management approves of the recommendations from the feasibility study. Systems analysis The goal of the systems analysis is to determine where the problem is in an attempt to fix it by breaking down the system. During this phase, we determine requirements and structure them according to their interrelationships, eliminating redundancies. The end result being well defined requirements that are a good fit based on the organization’s needs and budget. System design In the system design phase, functions and operations are described. It can be broken down into two steps. Logical design (blueprint) is described independently of any computer platform and is then transformed into technology-specific details known as physical design. Design elements are intended to describe the system in great detail to developers so that they can deliver the system with minimal additional input. System Implementation & Operation During this final phase...
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...Systems Analysis and Design (SAD) is an exciting, active field in which analysts continually learn new techniques and approaches to develop systems more effectively and efficiently. In business, SAD refers to the process of examining a business situation with the intent of improving it through better procedures and methods. System analysis and design relates to shaping organizations, improving performance and achieving objectives for profitability and growth. The emphasis is on systems in action, the relationships among subsystems and their contribution to meeting a common goal. Systems development can generally be thought of as having two major components: Systems analysis and Systems design. System design is the process of planning a new business system or one to replace or complement an existing system. System analysis is the process of gathering and interpreting facts, diagnosing problems, and using the information to recommend improvements to the system. This is the job of the systems analyst. A system is orderly grouping of interdependent components linked together according to a plan to achieve a specific objective. Its main characteristic are organization, interaction, interdependence, integration and a central objective. To construct a system, system analyst must consider its elements- input and output, processors, control, feedback, and environment. Systems are classified as physical or abstract, open or closed, and man-made information systems. A system may be schematic...
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...Service Request SR-rm-022 Part 3 Implementaion for this design is where Riordan Manufacturing will find some challenges with some parts of the design that include the end user. Having a complete team of design analysts, IT Technicians, Business analysts, and end users working together cohesively is what will make the difference of having an efficient and successful program (Valacich, 2012). Moving through the entire phase of this project from start to finish will be cruicial to the teamwork aspect of this design. The new system implements a new automation that is built off of an IT platform. The departments involved in this is the HR resource management, and the IT department. The other departments that aren’t directly involved but will be affected by the change are the operations and finance departments. Coding It is our job to ensure the essentials necessary for the new system that is being created for the HR department. Our team wants to assure that this new system is well equipped, and correctly developed in a way that if any issues arrive they can be taken care of in a timely manner. The new features that are incorportated with the new design are created as a form of application software that the end users will operate their business from. A new database will be used for storing multiple categories of information making this the foundation of the new system. System developers will generate the best software for Riordan Manufacturing while keeping end user satisfaction...
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...internationalization of businesses. 5 2. Alternative strategies for developing global business 6 3. Using information systems to support different global business strategies. 7 4. Challenges posed by global information systems and management solutions. 8 5. What are the issues and technical alternatives to be considered when developing international information systems? 10 References. 13 Section A. Executive Summary This document aims to explain the system design and hardware blueprint of the XO-4 laptop. While the capabilities of the XO-4 are similar to a regular laptop, it was designed for elementary school children. The primary goal of the hardware design is low-power operation, and for extensive use in developing countries or rural areas where access to classrooms are not always available. 1. What are the capabilities of the XO laptop (especially the latest version, XO-4)? How well-suited is this machine for developing countries? According to wiki.laptop, (2013) the XO-4 are different to other laptops as all components except the keyboard and touchpad are located behind the LCD panel and is called the Core Module. Furthermore the keyboard encoder, touch pad module, keyboard matrix, and battery are combined in a separate Input Module that is connected to the core module by means of two cables in the laptop hinge (wiki.laptop, 2013). The core processing system used in XO-4 is the Marvell PXA2128, which integrates multiple ARM processor...
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...System Development Life Cycles (SDLC) * * * * * Tutorial 3 in a series of 6 - Overview of Software Engineering Principles 3 The system development life cycle (SDLC) follows a project through from the initial idea to the point where it is a functional system. It is a core part of the methodology that is used when defining a project. Life cycles fall into a number of different categories, iterative being the most common but they also include waterfall, spiral and chaos models. Common methodologies include Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) and Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF). Each step in a systems lifecycle can be broken down into many smaller sub-steps or processes. Each stage follows logically after the previous, but it is an oversimplification to say that one stage is a distinct step after another. It is important to understand that the system lifecycle is iterative as well as the stages involved along the way. Different methodologies will have different variations of this lifecycle model. A common iterative lifecycle is show in the diagram below and each stage is described after the diagram. Initial Idea All projects must start with an initial idea. Usually this consists of a brief definition on what is the project all about, what is its purpose and what the project aims to accomplish. How will the success of the project be measured? Feasibility Study Expanding on the Initial Idea, the Feasibility Study involves...
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...M-tech’s Espresso after some short interview with some related people. Blake also gave four main advantages of the proposed information system as followed: Rapid response, Quaility control, Preventive maintenance, and Reporting. This system allow housekeepers to report problems as soon as possible without waiting so that it can reduce the chance of “slippage through the cracks” if the housekeeper forgot to communicate the problem. This system also can avoid the same problem occurred again and the manager can reward the employees according to their performance based on the data which showed by the system. While Blake got another account, so, his classmate Jack took over this case. After one month and a half, Blake was told that his solution was failed. It was useless and it just wasted money. When he came back to RH, he found that the Espresso was sitting in a corner, nobody cares about it, and every employee thought the older manual system was better than the new one. When Blake prepared to find a solution to make the new system work, a sentence gave him a tinge of hope: “Focus on the information system design, not the technology investment”. 2. Explain why they are in the current situation (mistakes and the people at fault) and what should have been done instead. The employee in RH was not familiar with the new information system Espresso, and due to Blake’s shift to other account, there was...
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...Service Request SR-rm-022, Part 3 Ryan Finch BSA/375 Implementation for this design would be where Riordan Manufacturing will find some challenges with certain parts of the overall design including the end user results. Having a complete team of design analysts, IT techs, Business analyst and end users all working together will help make the difference in producing successful and efficient program in the end. Moving through each phase of the project from start to finish will be dependent on the teamwork aspect of the design as a whole. The system implements a new automation that is built off of an IT platform, which means the IT and HR departments will be heavily involved in the project, but other departments that are not directly involved will be affect by certain changes such as the operations, and financial departments. Coding It is the coder’s job to ensure the essentials necessary for the new system that is being created for the HR department are being fulfilled. Our team wants to assure that this new system will be well equipped and correctly developed to handle all the needs and requirements, also to ensure if any issues were to arise in the system they can be resolved in a timely manner. The new features that will be incorporated into the new design of the system are created as an application software that the end users will operate their business from. A new database will be used for storing multiple categories of information, and it...
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...Questions #7 IT 193 - Systems Analysis & Design Chapter 7: Development Strategies 1. Describe the trend that views software as a service rather than a product. What effect has this trend had on software acquisition options? * The concept of software as a service is redefining the way that companies develop and deploy their information systems. People in various companies expect traditional packaged applications to be replaced by web-based services that remove the responsibility for installation, maintenance, and upgrades from a company’s in-house staff. https://www.coursehero.com/file/8417844/Chapter7-ReviewQuestions/ 2. Explain the difference between horizontal application software and vertical application software. * A software package that can be used by many different types of organizations is called a horizontal application. An accounting package is a good example of a horizontal application because it can be utilized by many different businesses. In contrast, a software package developed to handle information requirements for a specific type of business is called a vertical application. https://www.coursehero.com/file/8417844/Chapter7-ReviewQuestions/ 3. What is the most common reason for a company to develop its own information system? Give two other options why a company might choose the in-house approach. * In addition to numerous outsourcing options, a company can choose to develop it own systems, or purchase, possibly...
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...Portfolio Information Portfolio Name Portfolio ID Benchmark Risk Model Reiman Fund - NEW S&P MidCap 400 Index (^MID) Global Fundamental Short Term Date Range Currency Grouping Exclude Cash 3/4/2013 to 3/8/2013 US Dollar (USD) GICS Sector No Portfolio Overview Port Total Return Realized Risk Latest Predicted Risk -Factor Risk -Stock Specific Risk Portfolio Value($mm) # of Securities % of Cash 1.59 10.46 12.60 12.04 3.71 0.11 31 4.65 Bench 2.68 9.01 11.98 11.92 1.22 400 0.00 Active -1.09 1.64 3.89 1.33 3.66 4.65 Portfolio Return Chart Portfolio Characteristics Port Market Capitalization P/E P/BV P/Sales Div Yield Return on Equity % Total Debt/Equity Forward P/E EPS 3 Yr CAGR % 4,581.68 17.54 3.19 2.29 1.25 20.43 98.20 14.97 30.76 Alloc Eff Selec Eff Financials Information Technology Consumer Discretion... Industrials Materials Healthcare Energy Cash Consumer Staples Utilities Telecommunication S... Total 0.00 0.04 -0.02 -0.03 0.01 -0.01 0.00 -0.13 0.00 0.07 0.01 -0.06 0.31 -0.41 -0.22 -0.48 -0.08 -0.12 0.03 0.00 -0.02 0.00 0.00 -0.98 Inter Eff 0.00 -0.11 -0.05 0.10 -0.02 0.04 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.05 Return 6.87 7.64 5.06 3.48 3.68 Return -4.90 -3.32 -0.39 -0.68 -0.05 Bench 4,634.70 19.80 3.71 2.98 1.44 8.24 175.43 17.00 33.76 Total Eff 0.31 -0.49 -0.29 -0.41 -0.09 -0.09 0.03 -0.13 -0.02 0.07 0.01 -1.09 Contr 0.30 0.16 0.16 0.10 0.10 Contr -0.14 -0.10 -0.02 -0.01 0.00 Sector Weight Port Financials Information Technology Consumer Discretionary Industrials Materials...
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