Management Information Systems

MANAGING THE DIGITAL FIRM, 12TH EDITION

4.1 Building information systems

4.2 managing projects
Building and Managing Systems

4.3 managing global systems

 WHAT IS A BMS?
Building Management Systems (BMS) also known as Building
Automation Systems (BAS), Building Management and Control
System (BMCS), Direct Digital Controls (DDC) and Building
Controls.
Other terms associated with Control Systems include:
 Supervisory, Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC)
Energy Management System (EMS)
Data gathering panels (DGP
What is a Building Management System?
 BMS systems are “Intelligent” microprocessor based
controller networks installed to monitor and control.
 it is a buildings technical systems and services such as air
conditioning, ventilation, lighting and hydraulics.
2
 CONT.
Current generation BMS systems are now based on open
communications protocols and are WEB enabled allowing
integration of systems from multiple system vendors and
access from anywhere in the world.
Benefits of Having a BMS
improved Tenant comfort conditions
 Energy Management and reduced operational costs
Management of building ratings such as NABERS

3
 Management Information Systems

The Growth of International Information Systems

Global economic system and global world order driven

by advanced networks and information systems
Growth of international trade has radically altered
domestic economies around the globe
For example, production of many high-end electronic
products parceled out to multiple countries
 E.g., Hewlett-Packard laptop computer

4 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

The Growth of International Information Systems

Strategy when building international systems

1. Understand global environment
 Business drivers pushing your industry toward global competition
 Inhibitors creating management challenges
2. Develop corporate strategy for competition
 How firm should respond to global competition
3. Develop organization structure and division of labor
 Where will production, marketing, sales, etc., be located
4. Consider management issues
 Design of business procedures, reengineering, managing change
5. Consider technology platform

5 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

The Growth of International Information Systems

Global business drivers:

 General cultural factors lead toward internationalization and
result in specific business globalization factors

GENERAL CULTURAL FACTORS SPECIFIC BUSINESS FACTORS

Global communication and Global markets
transportation technologies Global production and operations
Development of global culture Global coordination
Emergence of global social norms Global workforce
Political stability Global economies of scale
Global knowledge base

6 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

The Growth of International Information Systems

Challenges and obstacles to global business

systems
General cultural challenges
Cultural particularism
 Regionalism, nationalism, language differences
Social expectations:
 Brand-name expectations, work hours
Political laws
 Transborder data flow
 Transborder data and privacy laws, commercial regulations

7 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

The Growth of International Information Systems

Challenges to global business systems (cont.)

Specific challenges
Standards
 Different EDI, e-mail, telecommunication standards
Reliability
 Phone networks not uniformly reliable
Speed
 Different data transfer speeds, many slower than U.S.
Personnel
 Shortages of skilled consultants

8 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

The Growth of International Information Systems

State of the art

 Most companies have inherited patchwork international
systems using 1960s-era batch-oriented reporting,
manual entry of data from one legacy system to another,
and little online control and communication
 Significant difficulties in building appropriate
international architectures
 Planning a system appropriate to firm’s global strategy
 Structuring organization of systems and business units
 Solving implementation issues
 Choosing right technical platform

9 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Organizing International Information Systems

Global strategies and business organization

 Three main kinds of organizational structure
 Centralized: In the home country
 Decentralized/dispersed: To local foreign units
 Coordinated: All units participate as equals
 Four main global strategies
 Domestic exporter
 Multinational
 Franchisers
 Transnational

10 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Organizing International Information Systems

Global systems to fit the strategy

 Configuration, management, and development of systems
tend to follow global strategy chosen
 Four main types of systems configuration
1. Centralized: Systems development and operation occur
totally at domestic home base
2. Duplicated: Development occurs at home base but
operations are handed over to autonomous units in foreign
locations
3. Decentralized: Each foreign unit designs own solutions and
systems
4. Networked: Development and operations occur in
coordinated fashion across all units

11 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Organizing International Information Systems

To develop a global company and information systems

support structure:
1. Organize value-adding activities along lines of
comparative advantage
 E.g., Locate functions where they can best be performed, for least cost
and maximum impact

2. Develop and operate systems units at each level of

corporate activity—regional, national, and international
3. Establish at world headquarters:
 Single office responsible for development of international systems
 Global CIO position

12 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Managing Global Systems

Principle management challenges in developing

global systems
Agreeing on common user requirements
Introducing changes in business processes
Coordinating application development
Coordinating software releases
Encouraging local users to support global systems

13 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Managing Global Systems

Typical scenario: Disorganization on a global scale

 Traditional multinational consumer-goods company based in
U.S. and operating in Europe would like to expand into Asian
markets
 World headquarters and strategic management in U.S.
 Only centrally coordinated system is financial controls and reporting
 Separate regional, national production and marketing centers
 Foreign divisions have separate IT systems
 E-mail systems are incompatible
 Each production facility uses different ERP system, different
hardware and database platforms, etc.

14 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Managing Global Systems

Global systems strategy

 Share only core systems
 Core systems support functionality critical to firm
 Partially coordinate systems that share some key
elements
 Do not have to be totally common across national boundaries
 Local variation desirable
 Peripheral systems
 Need to suit local requirements only

15 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 15: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Managing Global Systems

LOCAL,
REGIONAL, AND
GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Agency and other coordination costs

increase as the firm moves from
local option systems toward regional
and global systems. However,
transaction costs of participating in
global markets probably decrease as
firms develop global systems. A
sensible strategy is to reduce agency
costs by developing only a few core
global systems that are vital for
global operations, leaving other
systems in the hands of regional and
local units.

FIGURE 15-4

16 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Managing Global Systems

1. Define core business processes

2. Identify core systems to coordinate centrally
3. Choose an approach
 Piecemeal and grand design approaches tend to fail
 Evolve transnational applications incrementally from existing applications

4. Make benefits clear

 Global flexibility
 Gains in efficiency
 Global markets and larger customer base unleash new economies of scale
at production facilities
 Optimizing corporate funds over much larger capital base

17 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Managing Global Systems

The management solution: Implementation

 Agreeing on common user requirements
 Short list of core business processes
 Develop common language, understanding of common
elements and unique local qualities
 Introducing changes in business processes
 Success depends on legitimacy, authority, ability to involve
users in change design process
 Coordinating applications development
 Coordinate change through incremental steps
 Reduce set of transnational systems to bare minimum

18 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Managing Global Systems

The management solution (cont.)

 Coordinating software releases
 Institute procedures to ensure all operating units update at
the same time
 Encouraging local users to support global systems
 Cooptation: Bringing the opposition into design and
implementation process without giving up control over
direction and nature of the change
 Permit each country unit to develop one transnational application
 Develop new transnational centers of excellence

19 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Technology Issues and Opportunities for Global Value Chains

Technology challenges of global systems

 Computing platforms and systems integration
 How new core systems will fit in with existing suite of
applications developed around globe by different divisions
 Standardization: Data standards, interfaces, software, etc.
 Connectivity
 Internet does not guarantee any level of service
 Many firms use private networks and VPNs
 Low penetration of PCs, outdated infrastructures in developing
countries

20 © PRENTICE HALL 2011

 Management Information Systems
CHAPTER 4: MANAGING GLOBAL SYSTEMS

Technology Issues and Opportunities for Global Value Chains

Technology challenges of global systems (cont.)

 Software
 Integrating new systems with old
 Human interface design issues, languages
 Software localization: converting software to operate in
second language
 Most important software applications:
 TPS and MIS
 Increasingly, SCM and enterprise systems to standardize business
processes
 Applications that enhance productivity of international teams

21 © PRENTICE HALL 2011