ISYS 111 Fundamentals of Information Systems
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this quarter paper is to give the reader an understanding of the necessity of the BA(im) alumni database, which Copenhagen Business School has decided to implement. Our aim is to convince the reader that the purpose of the database is to allow the alumni to nurture its relations after the graduation. When creating a database, various considerations come into play; considerations such as ethical questions as well as questions regarding the security. We will also discuss the various technological possibilities and requirements. Furthermore, we will propose an interface design of the database. We will also account for the overall reasons for implementing a database like the one in question. It is also important for us to account for the necessity of this database to the stakeholders. We will try to explain what businesses have to gain from the BA(im) alumni database.
The purpose of this quarter paper is to give the reader an understanding of the necessity of the BA(im) alumni database, which Copenhagen Business School has decided to implement. Our aim is to convince the reader that the purpose of the database is to allow the alumni to nurture its relations after the graduation. When creating a database, various considerations come into play; considerations such as ethical questions as well as questions regarding the security. We will also discuss the various technological possibilities and requirements. Furthermore, we will propose an interface design of the database. We will also account for the overall reasons for implementing a database like the one in question. It is also important for us to account for the necessity of this database to the stakeholders. We will try to explain what businesses have to gain from the BA(im) alumni database.
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2.0 REASONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND PORTER’S COMPETITIVE FORCES MODEL
2.1 Overall reasons for implementing the information system
You can look at the alumni as a small community within the CBS organization, and at the same time as individual graduates and of cause current participants at the BA(im) study program. The database is first and foremost used for maintaining the relations between these parts. Because of the fact that the BA(im) program is still very young, it is very important for the organization to get feedback from its graduates in order to make decisions based on knowledge, instead of guessing, and thereby improving the education. The current students will for example be interested in getting to know realistic career paths. The alumni benefit from a strong network as this enables them to keep in touch with people who might work in the same industry, and to find associates for business or research purposes. When looking on the individual level, we believe that each student and graduate should be able to view and perhaps even delete/change specific data stored in the database regarding their own personal information. This is perhaps not an obvious benefit in regards to the database itself, but still a subject that can not be overlooked when creating an information system (we will discuss this in the ethical/privacy section). Although the database will not turn out to make a profit in the traditional way. On a more general level all the stakeholders will benefit from having a strong active alumni community, as this furthers professional networking and research in the field and hence strengthens the prestige of the study programme. Perhaps even also for outsiders providing better possibilities for people who have completed the BA(im) study program.
By using the database to full advantage in order to make it possible for the organization to each year making new/different changes in the course plan, so that the BA(im) course is constantly on the front of things; thereby creating a competitive advantage over its competitors, in this case other universities with similar courses. (Laudon & Laudon, p. 96).
2.2 Looking at the IS from the view of Porter’s competitive forces model
The study program is operating in the same environment as other IT and communications education programs (traditional competitors). The new market entrants would be emerging study programs from other business schools with similar programs. Other business programs with another “angle” of looking at the main curses within the BA(im) program (substitute services). Potential students finishing high school and firms who need highly educated people (customers). The high schools educating young students, thereby acting as the supplier for universities such as the Copenhagen Business School and the BA(im) study. In other words the goal for the BA(im) program is to make the program of better value than other business programs who also train people for the new digital business age, including IT, communication etc. Though these other programs do not educate people with the exact same competences, employers looking for new people might have that idea, thereby decreasing the BA(im) graduates prospects of getting a job. This is why it is so important for the program to bring out the message to both potentional employers and high school graduates, that the BA(im) program is a unique and innovative organization when creating each years curriculum. From the organizational view the BA(im)´s main objective is to attract the best talent to the study and get employers interested in the candidates that enter the job market after completing the study as this is the only way to ensure that the program continues to receive funding. It is of vital importance to gain a broad and prosperous network with both upper secondary schools, collaboration with firms during the course as well as potential employers. Upper secondary schools affect the program in many ways. The study program has to reach out to these schools but at the same time the education within the program depends on which academic level the students had before entering the BA(im) study program. An effective information system will help ease the transition (Laudon & Laudon 2006, p. 96-97). [pic]
The model above shows Porter´s competitive model applied to the BA(im) study.
3.0 INFORMATION, SECURITY AND ETHICAL REQUIREMENTS
3.1 Information requirements
The information criteria should consist of data which can help develop the study program to become more and more relevant to the actual job market. Furthermore it should help the alumni to apply for jobs which are relevant for their specific knowledge (this will be outlined later under ‘Security and ethical requirements’). By storing personal information about the alumni such as name, CPR number, year of graduation and contact details, the BA(im) administrators will be able to contact the alumni and collect detailed information about their careers. In this way the BA(im) administrators can analyze which kind of jobs the students have after graduating, and then evaluate if changes in the study could be an advantage. An example could be if 70 percent of the alumni get jobs in the communication business and only 15 percent of the program focuses in that direction, then it could be taken into consideration if there should be more communication classes added. It would also be relevant to check if students who graduated from other courses or universities before entering the BA(im) program get better jobs and salaries than those who did not. If for example students who took courses in business strategy ends up getting more influential jobs with bigger salaries, it could be a good idea to add classes focusing on that as well. Therefore, the database should also contain information about which courses, diplomas and universities the student took or went to before entering the program. The database must also consist of a job description which will reveal the basic tasks and challenges that the alumnus has. This will help the BA(im) administration to realize which skills the graduates are actually using. Furthermore we believe that the graduates should be asked about their salary as an optional paragraph. Since the BA(im) program is relatively new it is hard to say which exact title and income the graduate will get. Therefore it is important to have an optional field, with the question about salary. This will give a good idea of approximately which salary the students will get after graduation.
3.2 Security and ethical requirements
It is of great importance to have ethical and social guidelines when collecting personal and private data. It is important because of Copenhagen Business School’s ethical obligations, but the law also needs to be taken into consideration. Therefore it is important to develop an information system that has access control and first and foremost contains a sudden and well picked group of users. These users should be divided into different levels of access, where the BA(im) administrators have full access to all alumni data and the alumni have access to their own data at a level where they can read it but only correct or erase through an administrator. This will keep the data very reliable, updated and controlled. Furthermore we believe that there has to be an integrated tracking mechanism, to make sure that users who abuse the guidelines can be found and punished. This could be constructed in a way so that the IP is logged and saved, when a person logs in to the system. This will increase the users faith to the system, because they will feel confident that their personal information is in good hands. The punishment for unethical abuse of personal information should be remuneration from the database. Unethical abuse undermines the purpose of the database, and great resources should be put into preventing it.
The alumni should at all times be able to choose which information he or she wants stored in the database. When working with personal and private data one must always keep in mind that sensitive information, such as grades and salary level, is not shared among people that does not need to know these kinds of data. Therefore it is very important to have a top secured system, and a well controlled group of people with access for the alumni to trust with their private data. This kind of accountability will help attracting more data from the alumni. Another way to attract alumni to share information could be the fact that they can refer to the database when applying for future jobs. If the reliability of the database is of a high and well respected standard, it would be an advantage to add in the Curriculum Vitae for the alumni. This will encourage the alumni to fill out as much correct data as possible and thereby be able to give their future employer a good idea about their knowledge and skills.
4.0 Design of the alumni database and the technical specifications
4.1 Design of the alumni database
The database will consist of six tables. All the tables are related to each other. The six tables are: a BA(im) course list, personal information, alumni BA(im) grades, diplomas, other courses and employment. Each table will then consist of a number of records, such as the personal information about each alumnus. It could also consist of all the information about each specific period of employment. A record reflects an entity through specifying characteristics (attributes) of the entity. The entity in our example could be the alumnus or the period of employment.
“Each characteristic or quality describing a particular entity is called an attribute.” (Laudon & Laudon 2006, p. 226-227.)
The examples of an attribute would thus be name, e-mail address, or the date on which employment was commenced. Databases can be compared with file organization. What they have in common is that they both exist to store information. There is a significant difference between traditional filing and a database: the amount of excess data. It is possible to avoid an overload of data. By creating a database that views the clustering of the data from a business point of view. A so-called conceptual database. With our alumni database we began with a number of attributes. These attributes were: name of alumnus, address, course code, name of course, industry and employer. All describing different entities. By normalizing the database the attributes have been grouped to ensure repetitive data groups (duplicate data) and personal data are kept separate. They can then be linked to the other groups using the CPR number and/or the name of the course. The grades for each alumnus are separated to prevent repetition of all the details of a course for each grade.
4.2 The Database Management System
There is a software-program between the physical database and the application programs that use the data, called a database management system (onwards referred to as DBMS).
“A DBMS is software that permits an organization to centralize data, manage them efficiently and provide access to the application programs and the physical data files.” (Laudon & Laudon 2006, p. 229)
DBMS reduces the amount of inconsistent and excessive data, as well as it allows for running reports and queries. The DBMS used for the BA(im) alumni database, is a relational DBMS that relates different tables by using a given primary key and a foreign key. A primary key is the identifier of the different records (Laudon & Laudon, p. 230). It is unique, and therefore the CPR number is an ideal primary key because every alumnus has one. The relational database tables are combined through the functions; select, join and project. Using our case as an example, the scenario would be as follows. If one needs information of an alumnus who has worked at Nordea, one would first choose all the rows in the employment table that list Nordea as the employer. These rows would then reveal the CPR number of the alumnus, but no further personal data in accordance with our security policy. In order to get the name as well as other contact details of the alumnus, one would then choose all the rows in the personal data table that have the same CPR number as the rows chosen in the employment table. When these short-listed tables are now joined, they specify all the details of each employment period at Nordea and all the personal data of the alumni who have completed these employment periods. A DBMS includes tools that can further improve the use of our alumni database. Tools such as data manipulation language, used to add, change, delete and retrieve the data in the database (Laudon & Laudon, p. 234). Microsoft has made the increasingly popular My SQL (Structured Query Language). This tool contains commands that allow an end-user, or a programmer, to access specific information out of the large amount of data stored. An SQL can also be used to run statistics on the database to find out the amount of unemployed alumnus.
4.3 The Interface
The staff at CBS and alumni would have access to our database. Either by running a software application, (such as a Virtual Private Network client) or through a portal on the internet. A VPN client is a communications network tunneled through another network. Both would allow access to CBS’ intranet. These options require the student, and staff, to have access to the internet. We base our choice of options on the fact that, according to our projections, no one will use the database on a daily basis. Therefore having one web user interface is a cost-effective and simple solution that would appeal to novices as well as experienced users. However, our model also requires further technical considerations such as the implementation of a firewall, to prevent unwanted entry to the system.
As we wish to make the database as user-friendly as possible, the interface of the portal has to be taken into consideration. It has to be logically built, and the data should be stored in a way that is aesthetically pleasing. It should also provide the user with customization abilities. The user should be able to forge his or her own profile. All languages need to be supported, in order for students and staff to explore and use the portals full potential. If the students and staff demand it, a more interactive model is also available. A model that encourages more communication, using common Web 2.0 tools such as instant messaging, blogging and discussion boards.
4.4 The storage of the database
There are many different ways to look at a database. There is a simple model where the database is used only by one processor and stored on one computer. Our database is different and a small solution is thus inadequate. Our database is used by many different processors in a client/server network. The database can be stored on one or several storage servers and then accessed by other client computers. It is called distribution when the database is stored in more than one physical location. Distribution can happen either through partitioning or replication. In our case, an example of partitioning would be storing different parts of the database in multiple buildings available on the CBS campuses. Replication would be achieved by creating a duplicate of the database for each building. Maintenance would then be conducted over night. Updating the central database would be essential to ensure that all the replicas are identical. Our recommendation would be to work with one central database. A database with a replica in another building. Partitioning is unnecessary since our database is not meant to contain loads of data. The data is furthermore not location-specific. We suggest creating one replica as a backup solution, as it would be unfortunate to lose all data should e.g. a fire occur. (Laudon & Laudon 2006, p. 237-238)
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5.0 Conclusion
As we mentioned in the introduction, we wanted to provide the reader with an understanding of the necessity of a BA(im) alumni database. We have sought to do so by providing both practical and theoretical analysis.
The BA(im) alumni database can prove useful to a number of people. Through our studies, we have concluded that businesses and alumni alike can make great use of the information system. Both in terms of the alumnus opportunities after graduation, but also in terms of the businesses interest in the study program. The database can also help attract new students, because it will stand as a proof of validation for the study. It will help to give the right impression to potential students and investors and portray the BA(im) study as an innovative study; constantly up to date with tomorrows standards.
We have also confirmed the importance of security and ethical guidelines. When creating a database that contains so much personal information, these considerations are of the utmost importance.
In a world that makes increasing use of the internet, it is important that CBS stays up-to-date with today’s possibilities. By creating a community available to graduates of the BA(im) study, the graduates will feel a sense of loyalty to the study. These relations are crucial for CBS, and for the study’s ongoing development.
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