Ethics in systems design
Every day individuals are faced with decisions, some of them are easy such as medium or dark roast for your morning coffee, and some of them are harder such as should I purchase the condo or the house. Even still some decisions are even harder as they brush on topics that make you assess your feelings and personal beliefs in order to make these decisions, these decisions are called ethical decisions or ethical dilemmas; an example of an everyday-ish ethical dilemma is abortion. Should one be put in the situation where they are faced to make this decision they would be making their decision based on their belief system, their personal values, and their current state of mind.
The same belief systems would apply to individuals involved in the world of commerce. In business decision makers are constantly faced with ethical dilemmas. In regards to ethics in systems design, designers must ensure that they have given thought to ethics in the design of their systems. Issues that could arise when dealing with ethics in system design are privacy and relevancy.
In my opinion privacy is an area that is very large and complex when designing a system. For instance you need to design a system where peoples information is kept private but at the same time this information is needed to run the business. How many people can have access to individuals private information? What sort of security measures need to be put in place in order to ensure that individuals who are not authorized to view private information do not see this information. However the business process needs to run smoothly as well, how do you ensure that staff can effectively conduct their jobs while ensuring that these needs are met?
Relevancy is also an important topic when it comes to ethics in system design. System users and designers may need data that is relevant to the company however customers may deem this information inappropriate. For example, recently I had the pleasure of going to spa, at the spa they asked me to fill out about two pages of information about myself. Questions on the questionnaire included regular questions such as name, contact number, and address. However this questionnaire also included many questions that made me wonder if they absolutely needed to know the answers to, and also even if they needed these questions to be able to effectively perform their business, how was this information going to be viewed, who would view it (privacy issue), and if my responses to the questions would put me at an advantage or disadvantage over other customers. Some of the questions included, if I was menstruating, ethnic background, and if I was a vegetarian. Were these questions necessary? Lady helping me explained that there certain procedures that they perform cannot be performed when menstruating, by know the customers ethic background helps determine what products to use on their skin, and that if I was a vegetarian was important so that they would know whether or not it would be ok to serve prosciutto and melon during the waiting period in-between procedures. Of course these questions did not have to be answered, however especially regarding the ethnic background I felt very uncomfortable with having that sort of question on the questionnaire. Since I have taken a database class, I knew that this information would put onto their computer system. When these responses are on the database many people would be able to view my data and use the data. However was all that data absolutely necessary for the spa to perform their business?
When it comes to ethics in system design, the line between ethical and unethical can at times be very thin. I personally feel that it is in businesses best interest to raise discussion on these topics before they implement their systems, as it is easier to change what has not be done, than to have to deal with the results of crossing these boundaries.
Friday, October 12, 2007
BP Blog 2
Performance measures
This spring when the weather started to improve, I found myself walking to and from school. These walks provided me not only with a source of much needed exercise but with an opportunity for me to reflect. Reflection was an activity that I had not paid much attention to in my life up until this spring. However I quickly found that once I started reflecting on my personal life I felt much more stable and ready to face new challenges that might arise in my future.
On these walks I would reflect on things such as my personal goals (short and long-term), how I dealt with difficult situations that I had recently faced. I would also often analyze novels that I had recently read and paintings that I liked. I found thinking and analyzing all of these situations allowed me to “perform” better as student, a sister, and as…well, Candice.
As one of the great economists of the 21st century, Friedrich August Hayek said in his book The Road To Serfdom;
“Yet, although history never quite repeats itself, and just because no development is inevitable, we can in a measure learn from the past to avoid repetition of the same process”[i]
This quote is relevant for individuals, communities, countries, and even business. Evaluating and measuring past performance is vital for the success of the company. When evaluation, analysis, performance measuring is conducted after a project is completed, a milestone is met, or a target is reached, the individuals involved and individuals associated with the project and/or company may learn from the past experience of this particular project.
However just analysis the situation may not be adequate for many businesses. Certain businesses may want or need and aid to help them makes sense of what they are trying to analyze. One tool they may use is the balanced scorecard.
A Balanced Scorecard is “concept for measuring whether the activities of a company are meeting its objectives in terms of vision and strategy”[ii]. There are many providers of balance scorecard software, however no matter which one you choose they all measure four basic criteria: finance, customer satisfaction, learning and growth, and the business process. Using a balanced scorecard will allow businesses to asses where they stand in regard to the four major themes listed above, and allow them to make adjustments and improve in order to reach their business goals.
Another way in which business may assess their progress is through “key performance indicators” (KPI). KPI is “a financial and non-financial metrics used to quantify objectives to reflect strategic performance of an organization”[iii]. KPI uses targets and objectives to measure performance. For example “by June 30,2008 our customer base will be 20,000.” The customer base is the KPI. In my opinion this is simple easy way to measure performance in any company small or large. Ma and Pa business may use this method, as well as large conglomerates like GE.
Regardless of whom you are and what you do, individual or large enterprises, having a means of measuring your performance will always benefit the persons involved. And I feel will also reward the individuals performing as they will feel a sense of accomplishment when success is met in specific reaching goals, and performance has been measured and they know what they can change for next time round.
[i] The Road To Serfdom, Friedrich August Hayek, The University of Chicago press, ©1944
[ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_Scorecard, 10/3/2007
[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_performance_indicators, 10/3/2007
This spring when the weather started to improve, I found myself walking to and from school. These walks provided me not only with a source of much needed exercise but with an opportunity for me to reflect. Reflection was an activity that I had not paid much attention to in my life up until this spring. However I quickly found that once I started reflecting on my personal life I felt much more stable and ready to face new challenges that might arise in my future.
On these walks I would reflect on things such as my personal goals (short and long-term), how I dealt with difficult situations that I had recently faced. I would also often analyze novels that I had recently read and paintings that I liked. I found thinking and analyzing all of these situations allowed me to “perform” better as student, a sister, and as…well, Candice.
As one of the great economists of the 21st century, Friedrich August Hayek said in his book The Road To Serfdom;
“Yet, although history never quite repeats itself, and just because no development is inevitable, we can in a measure learn from the past to avoid repetition of the same process”[i]
This quote is relevant for individuals, communities, countries, and even business. Evaluating and measuring past performance is vital for the success of the company. When evaluation, analysis, performance measuring is conducted after a project is completed, a milestone is met, or a target is reached, the individuals involved and individuals associated with the project and/or company may learn from the past experience of this particular project.
However just analysis the situation may not be adequate for many businesses. Certain businesses may want or need and aid to help them makes sense of what they are trying to analyze. One tool they may use is the balanced scorecard.
A Balanced Scorecard is “concept for measuring whether the activities of a company are meeting its objectives in terms of vision and strategy”[ii]. There are many providers of balance scorecard software, however no matter which one you choose they all measure four basic criteria: finance, customer satisfaction, learning and growth, and the business process. Using a balanced scorecard will allow businesses to asses where they stand in regard to the four major themes listed above, and allow them to make adjustments and improve in order to reach their business goals.
Another way in which business may assess their progress is through “key performance indicators” (KPI). KPI is “a financial and non-financial metrics used to quantify objectives to reflect strategic performance of an organization”[iii]. KPI uses targets and objectives to measure performance. For example “by June 30,2008 our customer base will be 20,000.” The customer base is the KPI. In my opinion this is simple easy way to measure performance in any company small or large. Ma and Pa business may use this method, as well as large conglomerates like GE.
Regardless of whom you are and what you do, individual or large enterprises, having a means of measuring your performance will always benefit the persons involved. And I feel will also reward the individuals performing as they will feel a sense of accomplishment when success is met in specific reaching goals, and performance has been measured and they know what they can change for next time round.
[i] The Road To Serfdom, Friedrich August Hayek, The University of Chicago press, ©1944
[ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_Scorecard, 10/3/2007
[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_performance_indicators, 10/3/2007
BP Blog 1
BP Blog 1
Business process reengineering is an approach that management may use, that aims at improving efficiency and effectiveness of the current processes that are in a company. BPR allows management to step back and take a look at their business processes from a clean slate perspective. By doing this they may determine the way to reconstruct their business process so that it may be improved.
The idea of BPR was developed in the 1990’s. Hammer and Champy advocated eliminating, or reducing the amount of work done by staff that is not “value adding” for the customers. Instead of having many workers conduct these types of activities, they should automate this process. This idea was widely accepted for many reasons at the time. One of them is that with the relative sudden emergence of a global business environment many companies were losing their customers to their foreign competitors. By implementing a BPR they would be able to cut costs and allow their staff to focus on more value adding activities for their customers.
During the mid 1990’s many critiques were published that gave BPR a poor name. These critiques criticized BPR that it allowed management to downsize, lay off workers, and dehumanize the workplace. At this time many business started to slow down their BPR activities. Much of this criticism arose from the fact that many businesses abused the possibilities of BPR and instead of focusing how they may be able to improve their business systems they focused on simply cutting down costs.
In recent years BPR has gained in popularity. The fact that it has gained popularity comes as no surprise as it is an effective way to reduce costs and focus on activities that add value to the company’s customers. Through the automation of certain business activities customers are able to be better satisfied as their accounts and information will be more current and up-to-date. Also when management can loosen their focus on their internal business focus and focus more on the needs of their customers, they will be able to generate better products/services that will result in an increase in sales, which in turn will generate higher net incomes for the respected companies.
I personally feel that initiating a BPR or even thinking about the system would be beneficial for any company. By forcing the decision makers of a company to take a step back and look at their business, where they are, and where they want to go would allow the company an opportunity to see their company in a different light. They may be able to see little quirks that were not within their view before. Whether it is a Ma and Pa business or a large enterprise, the decision makers will be able to if nothing else see where there challenges lay and where changes need to be made in order to add more value to their customers.
Business process reengineering is an approach that management may use, that aims at improving efficiency and effectiveness of the current processes that are in a company. BPR allows management to step back and take a look at their business processes from a clean slate perspective. By doing this they may determine the way to reconstruct their business process so that it may be improved.
The idea of BPR was developed in the 1990’s. Hammer and Champy advocated eliminating, or reducing the amount of work done by staff that is not “value adding” for the customers. Instead of having many workers conduct these types of activities, they should automate this process. This idea was widely accepted for many reasons at the time. One of them is that with the relative sudden emergence of a global business environment many companies were losing their customers to their foreign competitors. By implementing a BPR they would be able to cut costs and allow their staff to focus on more value adding activities for their customers.
During the mid 1990’s many critiques were published that gave BPR a poor name. These critiques criticized BPR that it allowed management to downsize, lay off workers, and dehumanize the workplace. At this time many business started to slow down their BPR activities. Much of this criticism arose from the fact that many businesses abused the possibilities of BPR and instead of focusing how they may be able to improve their business systems they focused on simply cutting down costs.
In recent years BPR has gained in popularity. The fact that it has gained popularity comes as no surprise as it is an effective way to reduce costs and focus on activities that add value to the company’s customers. Through the automation of certain business activities customers are able to be better satisfied as their accounts and information will be more current and up-to-date. Also when management can loosen their focus on their internal business focus and focus more on the needs of their customers, they will be able to generate better products/services that will result in an increase in sales, which in turn will generate higher net incomes for the respected companies.
I personally feel that initiating a BPR or even thinking about the system would be beneficial for any company. By forcing the decision makers of a company to take a step back and look at their business, where they are, and where they want to go would allow the company an opportunity to see their company in a different light. They may be able to see little quirks that were not within their view before. Whether it is a Ma and Pa business or a large enterprise, the decision makers will be able to if nothing else see where there challenges lay and where changes need to be made in order to add more value to their customers.
PM Blog 1
PM – Blog 1
My first impressions of Project Management are mixed. While I have already been a part of many projects, and within those projects have lead many projects, I definitely feel that I have many areas in which I need improvement in the area of effective project management.
Personally, I prefer others to lead however this is a challenge that I feel I work at surpassing. Effective project management seems like a very important skill to process in today’s business environment. While searching on monster.ca, I found many positions for project managers. I found it not very surprising that many of the positions that I looked at, asked for a bachelors, or some sort of relevant education experience. They also asked for 5-10 years work experience.
The 5-10 year work experience makes sense. In fact if I were a hiring manager I too would not like to hire a fresh out of college student as a project manager. In a way Project management is a skill that can be taught in school, however to really learn effective project management, one must acquire the skill that only experience can provide. Roger Federer did not become the world’s finest tennis player over night; it took many years of practice, to acquire his level of skill and mastery of Tennis. I feel that in the area of Project management the same concept applies.
Judging from my personal project management past history, I have defiantly seen improvement is in my ability to manage personal projects and group projects. I have by no means perfected this art and will be continually learning and trying to improve my abilities. Although sometimes I am fearful or nervous of projects I take on, I do try to get through with a smile on my face. Meaning that I may not personally enjoy the task at hand, but I will attempt to make the best of it. Like (well not exactly like, because I am not in love with the art of project management) Federer I feel that with enough experience, good projects, challenging projects, and the knowledge that I pick up along the way, at some point in my life I will be adequately trained to take on a project management role in a business environment and succeed in the project. However I am confident that this will take some time.
Included are the URL’s for some of the postings I found:
Bilingual Enterprise Services - Project Manager-Dell Computershttp://jobsearch.monster.ca/getjob.asp?JobID=62615123&AVSDM=2007%2D09%2D18+17%3A26%3A59&Logo=1&q=IT+project+manager&cy=CA&dcjvlid=243
Business Analyst/ Project Manager - RIShttp://jobsearch.monster.ca/getjob.asp?JobID=62603237&AVSDM=2007%2D09%2D18+12%3A47%3A55&Logo=1&q=IT+project+manager&cy=CA&dcjvlid=226 Senior IT Project Manager – ADT - CIBChttp://jobsearch.monster.ca/getjob.asp?JobID=62593255&AVSDM=2007%2D09%2D18+09%3A47%3A03&Logo=1&q=IT+project+manager&cy=CA&dcjvlid=240
My first impressions of Project Management are mixed. While I have already been a part of many projects, and within those projects have lead many projects, I definitely feel that I have many areas in which I need improvement in the area of effective project management.
Personally, I prefer others to lead however this is a challenge that I feel I work at surpassing. Effective project management seems like a very important skill to process in today’s business environment. While searching on monster.ca, I found many positions for project managers. I found it not very surprising that many of the positions that I looked at, asked for a bachelors, or some sort of relevant education experience. They also asked for 5-10 years work experience.
The 5-10 year work experience makes sense. In fact if I were a hiring manager I too would not like to hire a fresh out of college student as a project manager. In a way Project management is a skill that can be taught in school, however to really learn effective project management, one must acquire the skill that only experience can provide. Roger Federer did not become the world’s finest tennis player over night; it took many years of practice, to acquire his level of skill and mastery of Tennis. I feel that in the area of Project management the same concept applies.
Judging from my personal project management past history, I have defiantly seen improvement is in my ability to manage personal projects and group projects. I have by no means perfected this art and will be continually learning and trying to improve my abilities. Although sometimes I am fearful or nervous of projects I take on, I do try to get through with a smile on my face. Meaning that I may not personally enjoy the task at hand, but I will attempt to make the best of it. Like (well not exactly like, because I am not in love with the art of project management) Federer I feel that with enough experience, good projects, challenging projects, and the knowledge that I pick up along the way, at some point in my life I will be adequately trained to take on a project management role in a business environment and succeed in the project. However I am confident that this will take some time.
Included are the URL’s for some of the postings I found:
Bilingual Enterprise Services - Project Manager-Dell Computershttp://jobsearch.monster.ca/getjob.asp?JobID=62615123&AVSDM=2007%2D09%2D18+17%3A26%3A59&Logo=1&q=IT+project+manager&cy=CA&dcjvlid=243
Business Analyst/ Project Manager - RIShttp://jobsearch.monster.ca/getjob.asp?JobID=62603237&AVSDM=2007%2D09%2D18+12%3A47%3A55&Logo=1&q=IT+project+manager&cy=CA&dcjvlid=226 Senior IT Project Manager – ADT - CIBChttp://jobsearch.monster.ca/getjob.asp?JobID=62593255&AVSDM=2007%2D09%2D18+09%3A47%3A03&Logo=1&q=IT+project+manager&cy=CA&dcjvlid=240
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
BP - BLOG 3
BP Blog 3
There are many benefits to be reaped from using XBRL, however the big three are:
1.Better
2.Cheaper
3. Faster
XBLR will allow your company to produce better documents, with more effective use. Documents become accessible to parties involved with your companies financial statements. Information will become more easy to navigate due to that fact of standardization. It also improves the ability to contrast and compare your companies financial documents with prior years and other companies.
XBLR is cheaper in the long-run as less effort is needed to prepare the financial documents. There is also less of a need to re-format documents due to the standardization of the reports.
XBLR is faster as reports can be compiled more quickly and effectively than without XBLR. Using XBLR also enables readers and analysers of the documents to spend less time analyse the data generated from the reports.
Although many financial documents are being viewed electronically, they still are not interactive. Meaning they are just the same as a photo of the financial statements on the computer. With XBRL the online financial statements may become interactive for the users. In others word users may use their computers to search for data, perform calculations, and read the data.
XBRL can be used for three major purposes:
1.Investor and Analysis Reporting
2.Borrowers Reporting Quarterly on Financial Information 3.Regulatory Reporting
Investors and analyst will find this method of reporting beneficial as they will not have to sort through as much “paper” (PDF files), and instead will be able to weed through various financial statements, allowing their computers to conduct a large amount of work.
Companies that use XBRL to submit their financial data quickly to their financial institutions. Saving time in converting their data into Excel spreadsheets.
On regulatory reporting XBRL saves time as employees do not have to re-key information. Another benefit is due to its standardized format which will enable companies to send in regulatory information to the correct agencies quickly and efficiently.
XBRL does not come in an off –the-shelf- implementation package as XBRL is used differently around the world. However should you decide that this is the right option for your company you may contact a representative in your area. This representative will help you implement, provide support, and guidance while creating XBRL.
To help accountants stay on-top of the latest news regarding XBRL they may join a mail group that will keep them up-to-date of the current happenings in XBRL at http://www.xbrl.org/MainContacts/. They may also join discussion groups and find out about conferences being offered in their area at http://www.iasb.org/xbrl/events.html.
Websites used:
http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/XBRL-How_Can_It_Be_Used
http://www.iasb.org/xbrl/events.html
http://www.xbrl.org/Home/
There are many benefits to be reaped from using XBRL, however the big three are:
1.Better
2.Cheaper
3. Faster
XBLR will allow your company to produce better documents, with more effective use. Documents become accessible to parties involved with your companies financial statements. Information will become more easy to navigate due to that fact of standardization. It also improves the ability to contrast and compare your companies financial documents with prior years and other companies.
XBLR is cheaper in the long-run as less effort is needed to prepare the financial documents. There is also less of a need to re-format documents due to the standardization of the reports.
XBLR is faster as reports can be compiled more quickly and effectively than without XBLR. Using XBLR also enables readers and analysers of the documents to spend less time analyse the data generated from the reports.
Although many financial documents are being viewed electronically, they still are not interactive. Meaning they are just the same as a photo of the financial statements on the computer. With XBRL the online financial statements may become interactive for the users. In others word users may use their computers to search for data, perform calculations, and read the data.
XBRL can be used for three major purposes:
1.Investor and Analysis Reporting
2.Borrowers Reporting Quarterly on Financial Information 3.Regulatory Reporting
Investors and analyst will find this method of reporting beneficial as they will not have to sort through as much “paper” (PDF files), and instead will be able to weed through various financial statements, allowing their computers to conduct a large amount of work.
Companies that use XBRL to submit their financial data quickly to their financial institutions. Saving time in converting their data into Excel spreadsheets.
On regulatory reporting XBRL saves time as employees do not have to re-key information. Another benefit is due to its standardized format which will enable companies to send in regulatory information to the correct agencies quickly and efficiently.
XBRL does not come in an off –the-shelf- implementation package as XBRL is used differently around the world. However should you decide that this is the right option for your company you may contact a representative in your area. This representative will help you implement, provide support, and guidance while creating XBRL.
To help accountants stay on-top of the latest news regarding XBRL they may join a mail group that will keep them up-to-date of the current happenings in XBRL at http://www.xbrl.org/MainContacts/. They may also join discussion groups and find out about conferences being offered in their area at http://www.iasb.org/xbrl/events.html.
Websites used:
http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/XBRL-How_Can_It_Be_Used
http://www.iasb.org/xbrl/events.html
http://www.xbrl.org/Home/
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