http://www.dwinfocenter.org/
Data warehouses are collections of data designed to support management decision making that sometimes serve as repositories of organizational knowledge. I found this great website that contains a wealth of information on data warehousing. The site's "aim is to give you a taste of the good and (unlike most web sites) the bad in data warehousing and business intelligence." The site is a collection of essays that define data warehousing, give the pros and cons, and provide various other relevant information for anyone who is interested in the subject. An example of the other information is the section on what actions to take for successful data warehousing. For instance, establishing from the beginning that maintaining data quality will be an ongoing joint user/builder responsibility and training users one at a time are both actions that will assist in implementing a succesful data warehouse. Possible errors that users may come across are also available. These errors include data that may be incomplete, incorrect, incomprehensible, or inconsistent. The data that is contained in a data warehouse represents a large part of a company's knowledge. Companies need to have proper processes for gathering and storing information and data warehouses can be used for that purpose.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
green computing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=350Rb2sOc3U
As I have said in a previous blog, the idea of "going green" is becoming increasingly popular in today's society. The end of chapter 9 briefly discusses "green computing". Green computing is a strategy that many companies have been implementing in order to become more socially responsible. I found a video from explainingcomputers.com which introduces the importance of green computing. The use of computers has had somewhat of a negative impact on our environment. Computer use makes up about 2% of CO2 emissions and manufacturers use many chemicals and hazardous materials to manufacture PCs. The video suggests energy savers for companies interested in green computing. The energy savers include turning off idle PCs, using lower power hardware, server virtualization, hardware as a service, and energy efficient coding. An example of lower power hardware is the Atom created by Intel which uses far less energy than most hardware available.
The video also states that although computers are adding to environmental issues, they can also be used as part of the solution. Computers increase business efficiency and reduce the amount of travel people have to do. Virtual meetings and video conferencing allow people to communicate with others who are far away without having to drive or fly great distances. Also, many people now work from home saving them from having to commute to work daily. These things help reduce the negative affects travel has on the environment. This chapter focuses on companies being ethical and socially responsible and green computing benefits society by conserving global resources. Any company who uses green computing can both reduce their energy costs and become more environmentally friendly.
As I have said in a previous blog, the idea of "going green" is becoming increasingly popular in today's society. The end of chapter 9 briefly discusses "green computing". Green computing is a strategy that many companies have been implementing in order to become more socially responsible. I found a video from explainingcomputers.com which introduces the importance of green computing. The use of computers has had somewhat of a negative impact on our environment. Computer use makes up about 2% of CO2 emissions and manufacturers use many chemicals and hazardous materials to manufacture PCs. The video suggests energy savers for companies interested in green computing. The energy savers include turning off idle PCs, using lower power hardware, server virtualization, hardware as a service, and energy efficient coding. An example of lower power hardware is the Atom created by Intel which uses far less energy than most hardware available.
The video also states that although computers are adding to environmental issues, they can also be used as part of the solution. Computers increase business efficiency and reduce the amount of travel people have to do. Virtual meetings and video conferencing allow people to communicate with others who are far away without having to drive or fly great distances. Also, many people now work from home saving them from having to commute to work daily. These things help reduce the negative affects travel has on the environment. This chapter focuses on companies being ethical and socially responsible and green computing benefits society by conserving global resources. Any company who uses green computing can both reduce their energy costs and become more environmentally friendly.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
BCP
Chapter 8
http://www.csoonline.com/article/204450/Business_Continuity_and_Disaster_Recovery_Planning_The_Basics?page=1
I found a great article on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning by Derek Slater. In chapter 8, planning for business continuity is one of the activities a manager can expect from the IS organization. A Business continuity plan is an approved set of preparations and sufficient procedures for responding to a variety of disaster events. The article explains what the plan includes and how to succesfully create a BCP. Focusing on systems recovery is very important to a lot of companies. It is very important that after a crisis, a company can restore data or use back-up servers in order to continue conducting business. The article states "Business leaders and IT leaders should work together to determine what kind of plan is necessary and which systems and business units sre most crucial to the company." Mistakes that have been made in disaster recovery are also discussed in the article such as inadequate planning and testing. Sometimes it is difficult to convince higher executives to spend time and money on creating and testing these business continuity plans. Slater suggests addressing the need for disaster recovery or business continuity plans "through analysis and documentation of the potential financial losses". Companies will face extreme losses if they are not able to recover quickly from a crisis. IT systems are extremely important for many companies to continue with day to day business. The greater the impact on the company if a system were to fail or be affected by a disaster, the more money a company should spend to restore a system or process quickly.
http://www.csoonline.com/article/204450/Business_Continuity_and_Disaster_Recovery_Planning_The_Basics?page=1
I found a great article on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning by Derek Slater. In chapter 8, planning for business continuity is one of the activities a manager can expect from the IS organization. A Business continuity plan is an approved set of preparations and sufficient procedures for responding to a variety of disaster events. The article explains what the plan includes and how to succesfully create a BCP. Focusing on systems recovery is very important to a lot of companies. It is very important that after a crisis, a company can restore data or use back-up servers in order to continue conducting business. The article states "Business leaders and IT leaders should work together to determine what kind of plan is necessary and which systems and business units sre most crucial to the company." Mistakes that have been made in disaster recovery are also discussed in the article such as inadequate planning and testing. Sometimes it is difficult to convince higher executives to spend time and money on creating and testing these business continuity plans. Slater suggests addressing the need for disaster recovery or business continuity plans "through analysis and documentation of the potential financial losses". Companies will face extreme losses if they are not able to recover quickly from a crisis. IT systems are extremely important for many companies to continue with day to day business. The greater the impact on the company if a system were to fail or be affected by a disaster, the more money a company should spend to restore a system or process quickly.
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