Speaking Notes

PADM 5500

January 14, 2009

Dr. Neubauer

Where we are:

• When sending me e-mail, please use bjneubauer@gmail.com. You can copy to my bruce.neubauer@asurams.edu account.
• Our course Web page is http://www.robertcat.net/fall2009/padm5500/index.html
• I CHANGED THE CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT TO A THIRD LAB ASSIGNMENT ON THE SYLLABUS.
• Lab 1 assignment is now available on the course website:
• http://www.robertcat.net/fall2009/padm5500/index.html
• Please check the course Web page once a day.

The first weekly reading quiz is this evening.

I hope to distribute a CD with Rockwell Arena software on it. This should install on any computer with Windows XP or Windows Vista on it. The path to the install file is as follows:

\arena Install files\Install\Arena\Arena12 (CPR 9)

When it asks you for a Registration key, type the following:

STUDENT

This legal. I have permission from Rockwell Automation to share the student version of Arena for educational purposes.

Chapter 1 of Barrett and Greene

Given how slow many government agencies have been to change, the rapid embrace of e-government is remarkable.

What are the explanatory factors?

• vendor push
• the belief that automation can save money
• the expectations of citizens, driven by their experiences with e-commerce
• the "spiffy" factor
• the perceived tie to local economic development
• the fact that so much of what government does involves processing data and information
• possibly, the fear of disintermediation and irrelevance

What are the realities?

• automation of existing business processes quickly becomes business process reengineering
• sharing information can be a threat to how bureaucracies work
• the fear of being overwhelmed by additional requests from citizens is very real
• there is little faith in the ability of technology to facilitate self-governance by citizens
• IT projects tend to be very expensive and often the resulting applications are not satisfactory
• the ability to cut costs is limited if technology produces a parallel delivery system rather than replaces traditional means of service delivery
• there are often very serious issues related to privacy, security and misinformation
• just because there is a problem does not mean that there is a solution or that technology is the solution
• general managers often do not understand technical people and vice versa

Comments related to Chapter 1 of Stair and Reynolds

"Systems" is the theme of both organizations and information technology (computer networks, etc.)

A "system" has multiple parts that interact with one another such that there is INPUT, PROCESSING, and OUTPUT (and feedback).

Every system exists in an ENVIRONMENT. Feedback gets filtered through the environment of the focal system.

Systems can be nested inside one another. SYSTEMS THINKING is very important. Peter Senge is known in this area.

COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYTEMS is an important area of scholarship. Ralph Stacy is known in this area.

Government agencies tend to be reflections of political institutions and internally (like other kinds of organizations) they tend to be divided into functional areas.

Software systems tend to be designed to support functional areas rather than to support PROCESSES that usually span across multiple functional areas.

Generally, programmers don't want to think about organizational design and beyond a point general managers are pretty clueless about the design and implementation of software systems.

CONVERGENT ENGINEERING refers to the integrated design of organizations (and business processes) with IT software. See works by David A. Taylor.

http://www.supplychainguide.com/TheAuthor.htm

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT refers to the creation, deployment and maintenance of IT information systems in organizations. The magic phrase is "software development lifecycle," SDLC.

Some of the major kinds of IT systems.

• decision support systems (OLAP)
• transaction processing systems (OLTP)
• expert systems
• digital dashboards
• e-mail and other kinds of communications systems
• learning systems
• simulation systems for strategic planning and for training
• enterprise resource planning (ERP) such as SAP and Peoplesoft
• knowledge management systems such as intranet portals
• desktop publishing

In the public sector, the business phrase, "COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE" might be reframed as "CITIZEN SERVICE."

In the nonprofit sector, the business phrase, "EASY TO DO BUSINESS WITH" is entirely relevant when competing for contracts from government agencies to work together.

Some IT related careers:

• CIO (chief information officer)
• Business analyst
• Project manager
• Networking specialist
• Programmers, database specialists and other general IT professions
• Helpdesk
• hot areas right now tend to relate to security ("information assurance"), and computer forensics
• mobile "solutions" and GIS (geographic information systems) applications are also very relevant to the needs of local government agencies

Some questions related to Chapter 1 of Stair and Reynolds:

1. What is data? What is information? What is knowledge?

2. How does data get "upgraded" to information?

3. How does information get "upgraded" to knowledge?

4. At what "levels" do machines (computers) work?

5. Is a washing machine a system? What is it about an information system that makes it different from most other systems?

6. What is the distinction between hardware and software? What is an operating system?

7. What is the distinction between a computer and a network of computers? Which is more valuable and why?

8. What is the internet? What is the World Wide Web?

9. What is an intranet? What is an extranet?

10. Which of the above might facilitate communication within a government agency?

11. Which of the above might facilitate communication among government agencies?

12. What is a computer application? Do multiple people sometimes use the same application at the same time?

13. What is meant by a "stovepipe" application?

14. What is a "sneakernet?" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakernet

In general, are sneakernets a good thing within and among organizations?

15. What is a transaction processing system? Does one usually support a function or a process that crosses functional areas (departments)?

16. Can a transaction processing system span two or more organizations?

17. Does e-government share a lot in common with e-commerce?

18. What is a decision support system?

19. What is an expert system?

20. Do for-profit organizations seek to save money and create value in order to have "competitive advantage?" Do government agencies seek to save money and create value for citizens?