BIS Lecture 8

Dear Students,
You can download Tutorial 8 and Lesson 8 now.

Lesson 8

Tutorial 8.

Bye

Prepare.

Zainudin

Final Year Project Proposal As of 20 August 2007

Dear Students,
Just to inform you that these are the names of students whom have submitted their respective Project Proposal.

No Name Title Status

• Amr Mohamed Abdo eM : Multimedia Learning & Sharing
  
• Radwan Naser Car Online Purchasing Website Rejected
• Aziz Twaba Eye Medical Centre Online Patient Booking Information ssytems Accepted
• Mohd Abd Saleh Alzubaidi Online Auction Ordering Systems Accepted
• Akobakr Abdulhafedh E-Booking and Tracking Accepted
• Mohd Fahmi Rezaruddin Land Title Registry Systems Accepted
• Kevin Khoo Integrated Mobile Payment Systems Accepted
• Hanee Omar Restaurant Information Systems Accepted
• Ahmed Khanis HRM Web Based Systems Accepted
• Low Han Wee Insurance Reminder Management Systems Accepted
• Mohd Ahmed Ismail Search Engine Systems Accepted
• Aminath Shifana Online Tourist Management Systems Accepted
• Chin Kian Teck Mobile Information Systems Rejected
• Shalini Muniandy Student Management Systems Accepted
• Sashidaran Jayaraman Photo Album Management Systems Accepted
• Hamid Tabook Airline E Ticket Systems Accepted / Changed to Mobile Phone Stock Control Systems Accepted
• Siti Zurani Abdul Wahab Furniture Online Shopping Systems Accepted
• Marwan Online Shopping Cart Incomplete
• Velan Muniandy Invoice Printing Systems Accepted
• Yahya Qadar Bakhsh Student Results Systems Via SMS Accepted
• Chiew Siew Wan Pet Saloon Registration & Appointment Systems Accepted
• Scotty Cheah ALOHA Management Inventory Systems Accepted
• Kasturi Ramanaidu User Interface Design Travel Agencies Website Rejected
• Raja Kumar Letchimanan Criminal Profiler Management Systems Accepted
• Sreenesan Ganesan Online Student Performance Report Systems Accepted
• Jimmy Lau Hing Ong Condominium Visitor Registration Management Systems Accepted
• Khamis Hamed Mohd Al Jafri Legal Book Acessing Library Information Systems Accepted
• Gopintheran Ponnudurai Reservation & Ordering Systems Accepted
• Thiagu Mathialagan Clinical Manual Systems Accepted
• Jayavishnu Handheld for Baba Products Rejected
• Kasturi Airfare Generating Systems for Jeram Travel Pending
• Ahmed Abdul Rasool Web Based CRM Sun Inn Hotel Information Systems Accepted
• Mohammed Salem Abbod Banawair Clinic Appointment Systems Accepted
• Redha Ahmed Phone Event Announcement Systems Accepted
• Mohammed Abdullah Al Alawi Database for Electronic Payment Systems Accepted
• Elhadj A. Jalloh Mobile Messaging Systems Using Blue Tooth Accepted
• Amin Adnan M. Jamjoom Wireless Internet Tracking Packaging Systems Accepted
• Kallphana a/p Subramaniam Employee Information Systems
• Thamil Chelvi a/p Subramaniam LRT Information Systems

Thank you.

Zainudin Johari

BIS Case Study No. 4 - Ragnarok Video

Case Study No 4

Ragnarok Video

Competition in the home entertainment market is intense and for the main part it is dominated by a few large corporations such as “Blockbuster”. There are exceptions such as Ragnarok.

The business was established in 1987 by Michael and Kevin, two science fiction fans who could not get the videos that they wanted from their local video store. Their thinking was that other people with similar interests would pay to rent movies. Initially they ran the business out of a small shop a few kilometres out of the town centre and soon other science fiction and fantasy fans were driving anything up to 16 kms to hire videos. In the early days customers were given 6 cards which were used to record video hires. Each video had its own envelope and when a video was hired, one of the membership cards was put into the envelope which was then placed in “Hired tray” with the due date for return written on it. Customer tracking was a manual process and reserving videos was an ad hoc procedure at best.

For the first three years business was steady but the early 1990s saw a period of substantial growth. In 1993 Ragnarok Videos moved to its present location on the outskirts of the city’s business district. The new premises had much more space so Michael and Kevin were able to diversify into cult TV, Festival films and foreign language films to serve the diverse local population. Finally in 1995 they moved into mainstream entertainment and began to offer the same range of popular films as might be found in any of the “Blockbuster” movie stores. Such a varied stock and high volumes of business became impossible to handle manually and so an off the shelf, point of sales system was installed. Every item has a barcode and a corresponding entry in the electronic stock catalogue. The system was intended to handle sales rather than hires so reservations, enquiries and product tracking are difficult but it has reduced queueing at the checkout. The system has been in place for 7 years now and while much of the hardware has been replaced, the software has just been ported from one platform to the next, largely unaltered.

Michael and Kevin continued their policy of growth and dreamed of having the largest video collection in Western Australia. In 1997 they took out a lease on the adjoining premises and took on a loan to expand the collection. But profits did not keep pace with growth. In an attempt to generate additional income streams Ragnarok Videos diversified into movie memorabilia, CD and DVD sales and Video game and console hire. These activities have made a difference but their contribution to profit has been marginal at best. The food and drink vending machines which Kevin had installed in 2000 have made a solid contribution. As it now stands the business is just about in the black and its stock is aging. The high profile location is a real advantage to the business but is expensive; rising rents, rates and insurance are ongoing concerns.

A national chain has expressed an interest in acquiring Ragnarok and is offering reasonable terms and continuing employment for Michael and Kevin. However the founders are not keen to surrender their independence and control.

Ragnarok needs to have a reasonable amount of stock on the shelves for customers to browse through, while some customers come in with specific requests, most simply make a selection from what is on the shelves. At any point in time no more than 20% of the stock is out on hire. When customers ask if a particular item is available, a staff member makes a quick shelf check. If the item is not found then he/she consults the electronic catalogue to see when it is due for return and offers to reserve it, however reservations are something of a hit and miss affair if a customer is overdue in returning videos. The business operates 7 days a week from 10 am to 10 pm with 70% of weekly earnings being generated on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Videos/DVDs are divided into two categories; Weekly and New Release. New release videos are charged out at $6.00 per night and weekly hires are charged out at $3.00. Customer loyalty is good with most customers visiting the premises at least every two weeks.

A lease on one of the buildings opposite will become available in 8 months time. Michael’s informal contacts with the local council have told him that a change of use application has been made. It seems that the fruit and vegetable shop is set to become a rival video store. Michael believes that one of the national chains is targetting their business.

If Michael and Kevin ignore the situation they will end up losing their business, Ragnarok does not have the resources to fight a price war with the new video store which is backed by a national chain. If they accept the offer for their business and sell out then they lose their control and independence. Somehow they need to trim costs, reposition the business and increase income and profit. Kevin’s idea is to try to generate new customers by advertising and try to compete with the new video store when it opens. He argues that they must act now. Michael’s approach is to try to generate more income from the customers that they already have but this would involved replacing the older POS system with a newer version that allows product tracking and customer profiling. If anything this will cost more than Kevin’s advertising campaign. Currently stockouts (all available copies of a video are out on loan) and the lack of a reliable reservation system are causes of customer dissatisfaction. The problem is that the bank is not prepared to loan any more money until they can see a revised business plan. Kevin has suggested putting the business online since most of their customers have Internet access.

Ragnarok has engaged a consultant to advise on how best to turn the business around.

Questions:

1) Consider Kevin’s idea of putting the business online, is it feasible to do so? What factors should be taken into account?

2) What broad strategies would you suggest to ensure the immediate survival of the business? Do you think that the Bank will find these sufficiently good to justify a business loan?

3) Outline the requirements for an information system for Ragnarok. (i.e. what must the IS be able to do? What activities should it support?) – remember to think about integrating business processes and supporting them with the IS.

4) Think about the way that the information system should operate. What sort of queries should it be able to handle? What sort of users will it serve? Any system will require that videos and DVDs are catalogued. How would you catalogue them? (Hint: Think about the sort of things that you might want to search for, categories need not be mutually exclusive.

5) Consider how you would handle marketing. Do you agree with Kevin’s view or Michael’s? Given the cash starved nature of the business currently, any marketing has to be cost effective, what specific things would you suggest?

BIS Lecture 7

Dear Students,
You may download Lesson 7 for your reference.

Lesson 7

Thank you.

Zainudin

BIS Tutorial 7

Dear Students,
You may download Tutorial 7 now.

Tutorial 7.

Thanks.

Zainudin

BIS Tutorial 6

Dear Students,

You may download the Turorial 6 below. Prepare.

Tutorial 6

Thanks.

Zainudin

BIS Lecture 6

Dear Students,
You may download the Lesson 6 for reference.

Lesson 6

Thank you.

Zainudin

Thank you to my BIS- Btech Student of May 2007

Dear BIS Btech Students,

I really appreciate what you did last night for celebrating Teacher's Day with me. A beautiful cake and a memorable gift which I will treasure for the rest of my life. and hopefully a few glorious pictures to stamp the memories that we had in the Executive Lounge to treasure those happy moments.

I would like to say thank you again and leave you with this beautiful poem for you to ponder.

Cheers

Zainudin
A teacher who will keep on learning...


"Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life."

Northrup Christiane

BIS - Case Studies Submission as of 13 June 2007

Dear Students,
I have read some of the outline plan and they are really good. But you could do better and with more exploration if you have more assumptions.

These are the students who have already submitted Case Study 1

Case Study 1 - Kewl Cookies

Name of Student

1. Sreelehka Sukumaran Nair
2. Nadzri Badri
3. Logaraj Ramachandran
4. Zauyah Tarmizzi
5. Saran nair and Fadi Kabbara
6. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
7. Kogilavani Kathirvelu
8. Mohd. Faisal Abdullah & Jong Kim Lung
9. Muhaini mahmud
10. Azrul Nizam Roslan
11. Sim Yong Li
12. Fowzi Sulaiman & Ali Salim Farah Hobees
13. Wong Chen Nan and Wong Kah Hing
14. K C Ho & Kumaran ( The One )
15. Xia Yii Ni
16. Sivabalan Balakrishnan
17. 
    

Case Study 2 - Blue Book

Name of Student

1. Saran Nair and Fadi Kabbara
2. Zauyah Tarmizzi
3. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
4. K C Ho & Kumaran ( The One )
5. Logaraj Ramachandran & Kongilavani
   
6. Sim Yong Li
7. Sivabalan Balakrishnan
8. Fowzi Sulaiman and Ali Salim Farah Hobees
9. Nadzri Badri
10. Muhaini Mahmud
11. Ali Hubais
12. Azrul Nizam Roslan
13. Wong Kah Hing
14. Xia Yii Ni
15. 
    

Case Study 3 - Human Resource Management

Name of Student

1. Zauyah Tarmizzi
2. Nadzri Badri
3. Kogilavani
4. Saran Nair & Fadi Kabbara
   
5. Muhaini Mahmud
6. Sim Yong Li & Xia Yii Ni
7. Ho Kian Chye
8. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
9. 
   

Case Study 4 - Ragnarok Video

Name of Student

1. Zauyah Tarmizzi
2. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
3. Sim Yong Li & Xia Yii Ni
4. Ho Kian Chye
5. Logaraj Ramachandran
6. 
   

Thank you.

Zainudin Johari

BIS - Tutorial Submission as of 14 June 2007

Below are the latest Update for those who have submitted

CP 571 Business Information Systems
Tutorial 1

Name of Students :

1. Logaraj Ramachandran
2. Ho Kian Chye
3. Saran Nair
   
4. Jong Kim Lung
5. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
6. Muhaini Mahmud
7. Kogilavani Kathirvelu
8. Sim Yong Li
9. Wong Ka Hing
   
10. Xia Yii Ni
11. Mohd Faizal Abdullah
12. Siva Balan
13. Azrul Nizam Roslan
14. Nadzri Badri
15. Kumaran Letchumana Samy
16. Zauyah Tarmizzi
17. Wong Chen Nan
18. Ali Salim Hobees
19. Sreelehka Sukumaran Nair
    

Tutorial 2

Name of Students :

1. Nor Hisham Mohd. Mahayudin
2. Saran Nair
3. Ho Kian Chye
4. Wong Kah Hing
5. Xia Yi Ni
   
6. Nadzri Badri
7. Logaraj Ramachandran
8. Kogilavani
9. Sim Yong Li
10. Kumaran Letchumana Samy
11. Zauyah Tarmizzi
12. Wong Chen Nan
13. Muhaini Mahmud
14. Azrul Nizam Roslan
15. Jong Kim Lung
16. Ali Salim Hobees
17. Sreelehka Sukumaran Nair
18. Sivabalan Balakrishnan
19. Fowzi Ali
    

Tutorial 3

Name of Students :

1. Zauyah Tarmizzi
2. Muhaini Mahmud
3. Ho Kian Chye
4. Kumaran Letchumana Samy
5. Wong Chen Nan
6. Ali Salem Hobees
7. Saran Nair
8. Kogilavani
9. Sim Yong Li
10. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
11. Logaraj Ramachandran
12. Jong Kim Lung
13. Wong Kah Hing
14. Xia Yi Ni
15. Azrul Nizam Roslan
16. Fowzi Ali
    

Tutorial 4

Name of Students :

1. Ho Kian Chye
   
2. Wong Chen Nan
3. Zauyah Tarmizzi
4. Muhiani Mahmud
   
5. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
6. Logaraj Ramachandran
7. Kogilavani
8. Saran Nair
9. Sim Yong Li
10. Kumaran Letchumana Samy
11. Wong Kah Hing
12. Azrul Nizam Roslan
13. Ali Salem Hobees
14. Fowzi Ali
    

Tutorial 5

Name of Students :

1. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
2. Zauyah Tarmizzi
3. Logaraj Ramachandran
4. Muhaini Mahmud
5. Ho Kian Chye
6. Saran Nair
   
7. Kogilavani
8. Sim Yong Li
9. Jong Kim Lung
10. Roy Wong Chen Nan
11. Kumaran Letchumana Samy
12. Azrul Nizam Roslan
13. Ali Salem Hobees
14. Fowzi Ali
15. Wong Kah Hing
16. 
    

Tutorial 6

Name of Students :

1. Zauyah Tarmizzi
2. Saran Nair
3. Ho Kian Chye
4. Kogilavani
   
5. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
6. Sim Yong Li
7. Logaraj Ramachandran
8. Muhaini Mahmud
9. Wong Kah Hing
10. 
    

Tutorial 7

Name of Students :

1. Zauyah Tarmizzi
2. Muhaini Mahmud
3. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
4. Ho Kian Chye
5. Kumaran Letchumana Samy
6. Kogilavani
7. Saran Nair
8. Wong Kah Hing
9. Logaraj Ramachandran
10. Sim Yong Li
11. 
    

Tutorial 8

Name of Students :

1. Zauyah Tarmizzi
2. Muhaini Mahmud
3. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
4. Ho Kian Chye
5. Kogilavani
6. Wong Kah Hing
7. 
   

Tutorial 9

Name of Students :

1. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
2. Wong Kah Hing
3. 
   

Tutorial 10

Name of Students :

1. Nor Hisham Mohd Mahayudin
2. Wong Kah Hing
3. 
   

Thank you

Zainudin Johari
Senior Lecturer
BIS

BIS Case Study No. 3 - Human Resource Management

Dear Students,
For your reading pleasure.


Case Study No : 3

Human Resource Management

“Let me get this right,” began Sarah, “instead of users inputting their own superannuation details into our systems using a web-based system, they have to fill forms in and submit them to a clerical officer for updating? And the same thing applies if they need to file a change of name or address? I know this is a government organisation and that we are under-funded but we must be able to do better than that surely?”

“That’s pretty much it” answered Azhar, “but it’s actually more complicated than that. The system runs on an old PC and prepares a file for submission as a batch job to the mainframe. It was developed in version 2.3 of the software, which is no longer supported by the software company - in fact the software company went broke 6 years ago. The software needs to run on an old 486 processor because of specific hardware requirements which are unique to that software. We can’t just switch to using something else because there is no off the shelf software that we can buy, the mainframe character and file formats have to be preserved and the word length of PCs that succeeded the 486 machines is different. We have been looking for suitable software for ages – I thought you knew”

“So what happens if that 486 PC dies?” asked Sarah.

“That really depends what it dies of …” began Azhar “We keep regular backups, and I have a whole range of salvaged spares for the 486 – enough to build three complete computers if need be.”

“Can we develop our own software? We have enough programmers.”

“Well we could but we have no design documentation or source code and the people who developed it left the department ages ago. We could buy new software and then convert all the stored data into the new format – we’d also need to change the mainframe code – unless we ported the system onto a PC platform with a PC based server. I guess that last option would cost about RM50,000, not counting a new server. The other option would be to write our own software – I wouldn’t like to put a timeline and cost to that, but it would be expensive. It’s not the future that worries me so much as the present. With the current turnover of staff and changes to superannuation, names, addresses etc. I have one person working 45 hours a week just to keep up. Even then it can take up to two weeks for a change to be logged on the mainframe. When we finally run out of spare parts for that PC – we have real problems.”

“Not quite” said Sarah, “You are the IS manager, you have problems. You have been with us for over 11 years and you let this happen. I’ll give you a week and by then I expect to know just what you plan to do to solve this and what you can do to prevent a recurrence of similar problems in the future. Otherwise we may have to review your position here.”

“You try it! I’ll bring in the union and make a real issue of this. There’s only so much that can be done within the confines of the budget I get to work with. We can’t afford top notch people, new hardware and extensive upgrades and all my attention has been on keeping the mission critical systems running – payroll, accounting, the HRM database – plus the network. All of those are running well – the network and main systems have over 98% uptime and most of our help desk calls are resolved in less than 20 minutes. We have no budget for new projects. While superannuation etc. is important it’s not vital. If it takes a week or two before everything gets updated then so what? We both know that a new system would pay for itself in two years or so – but we need to have the money up front to develop the new system and it is not forthcoming. I made requests for funding 5 years ago, 4 years ago and 3 years ago. Eventually I got sick of asking. It's not my fault and it shouldn’t be my problem. You have been here for 3 years – didn’t you take the trouble to find out what had been going on when you came here?”

Sarah realised that they were getting nowhere, “One way or another 30,000 people rely on that system – we have to sort something out. What are the big costs associated with a new system? And why is it so expensive to write our own software?”

“Well we need a dedicated server and network upgrade and the data conversion is a significant cost. We might only really need a snapshot of how things are now – the main database keeps track of payments and other employee records” Azhar responded “but even if we could reduce the cost of conversion somehow, we’d still need to find the funds to develop and run the system. In terms of the costs of a new system is that you only see what is on the screen, we have to produce code that implements our security and authentication procedures. Given the nature of the application validation and quality testing would be significant costs. Bear in mind my staff are really maintenance programmers – they seldom cut new code and a web based system would be a new thing for them. Also because we are slightly understaffed I would have to pay staff overtime rates or outsource the project. Either of those options would cause a budget blow out. – unless of course you have any ideas about how to fund the project?”

“Why can’t we just get someone to input the changes directly to the mainframe?” asked Sarah “That would overcome the PC bottleneck.”

“That had crossed my mind” said Azhar “but there are some difficulties with that – giving a user direct access to the mainframe has security implications – and in any event that only moves the bottle neck from one place to another. Given the age of the main systems, it’s easier to work around them. Creating a file with the updates is the only way to go.”

“Leave it with me …” said Sarah “I’ll explore a few options”

Questions from Case Study 3 HRM

1. Whose side would you take in this argument? Why?

2. Speculate as to what circumstances led to the present state of affairs. How many were preventable?

3. Do you think Azhar has behaved sensibly in regarding the superannuation system as low priority?

4. Is there anything else that Azhar can do in the short term?

5. Consider Sarah’s position. What will happen if she fails to find funding to improve or replace the system?

6. Lack of funding is a major problem in this government department, how would you go about building a case to support an argument for a new system? What funding options would you suggest? (be creative/radical if need be)

7. If funding were to be found, would you develop the project in house or would you bring in an outside company (outsource) to do it? Explain why/why not.

8. Could you establish guidelines to prevent similar problems arising in the future? If so what would they be?

9. Government departments are not-for-profit organisations. Does this mean that will always tend to be underfunded? Or are there exceptions? (Think of some of the government systems that you know about and what purpose they serve.)

Zainudin Johari

BIS Tutorial 5

Dear Students,
You may download Tutorial 5 now.

Tutorial 5.

Thank you.

Zainudin Johari

BIS Lecture 5

Dear Students,
You may download Lesson 5 now.

Lesson 5

Thank you.

Zainudin Johari

BIS Case Study No. 2 - Blue Books

Dear Students,
For your reference.

Case Study No. 2

Blue Books

Blue Books is a sizeable high street bookshop in Kuala Lumpur. It has occupies several floors of a prime high street location. In addition to selling books it also sells videos, DVDs and CDs and has a coffee shop on the fifth floor. Blue Books has a history of innovation, it was the first bookshop in Kuala Lumpur with electronic point of sales systems, and the first to provide customers with PC based catalogue browsing instore. Increased competition and declining profit margins led to the move into CDs and DVDs and more recently into select, upmarket stationary. A large amount of Blue Books’ business is derived from overseas visitors to Kuala Lumpur but there is a substantial local customer base and repeat business from Australian visitors to the store.

There are 16 checkout positions, most of which have two electronic cash registers linked to a central database. The cash registers have limited processing power and can not access the inventory system directly to answer customer queries. The systems has worked very well for the last 6 years but the hardware started to show signs of failure The software is efficient but limited and it is very difficult to carry out data capture on customers or to carry out sophisticated queries on the database for marketing purposes. Blue Books is a good business but in order to maintain its health it needs to market and merchandise more effectively and this means replacing the exist hardware and software with something which is better aligned with the business plan. Consequently a replacement system has been commissioned.

Eric Kruger handles all IS/IT support for the Kuala Lumpur store. He was closely involved in the development of the system which is now due for replacement. He was promoted to the position of IT manager two years ago. He started at Blue Books nine years ago, joining the company after graduating with first class honours in Computer Science. He has since completed a Graduate Diploma in Business with a view to taking an MBA at a later date. The directors decided to put Eric in charge of the project to replace the older hardware and software and has he has been told to reduce costs where possible.

Eric has followed a traditional systems development approach and has taken the trouble to confirm the user requirements for an integrated software system that can handle sales, inventory, transaction processing, and marketing. The software uses a single server and PCs with barcode readers to function. The company offered to provide a turnkey (ready to use) system for around RM360,000 (include installation) with ongoing software and network licensing costs of RM80,000 per year. Eric has taken the trouble to price up everything that he would need to build the system and realises that he could save over RM60,000 by sourcing all the equipment locally and bringing in contract staff to handle the changeover. His procurement list included a new network, PCs to use as both electronic tills and for handling customer enquiries, a further 12 PCs placed on the shop floor to allow customers to browse the online catalogue and to place orders. The database server is a state of the art dual processor model. Eric made sure that he specified conformance to the network and hardware standards specified by the software supplier in his purchase orders. Sensibly, he has arranged for the system to be installed over a long weekend. Since the networking cabling was upgraded two years ago, it is quite capable of supporting the new systems and does not need to be replaced, however the new system requires updated networking software.

Work began on dismantling the old system as soon as the store closed its doors on Friday evening and by midnight this part of the project was complete. By 9.00am on Saturday the new hardware is in place and the software has been installed. The project is nearly 20 hours ahead of schedule. Eric tests the system by scanning a book – and finds that it fails to operate. Realising that he has only a short period of time to sort the problems out, he telephones the software company, the business that supplied the server, the PC supplier and the network software vendor in an effort to understand the problem. The network people blame the server company, the server company in turn point to problems with the PCs and networking. The PC company say that they manufacture to widely used, international standards and have never had any such problems before. The network software company points out that its product is used world wide in many different applications.

Eric realises that he has two and a half days in which to sort this problem out or his future with the company looks bleak. It crosses his mind to walk off the job and tender his resignation. Right now he has 6 contract staff standing around waiting for instructions.

Questions

1. How did Eric manage to get himself into this mess?

2. Would walking off the job and resigning be a reasonable option? Why?

3. What should Eric do immediately?

4. What should be done in the short term?

5. What should be done to resolve the problems on a permanent basis?

6. What revisions to policies and procedures should be made to prevent a recurrence?

7. Should Eric be allowed to keep his job? Why/why not?

Zainudin Johari

BIS Tutorial 4

Dear Students,
You may download tutorial 4 here,

Tutorial 4

Bye

Zainudin

BIS Lecture 4

Dear Students You may download Lesson 4 here.

Lesson 4 - Business Information Systems

Final Year Project Presentation Jan - April 2007

Dear Students,
Business Information Systems/Internet Technology/Computing

The Presentation is as follows :

Saturday 12 May 2007

10.00am - 10.30am - Azwina Azwin
10.30am - 11.00am - Wong Pi Yue
11.00am - 11.30am - Jegan s/o Baskar
11.30am - 12.00pm - Ammar Ahmed
12.00pm - 12.30pm - Gopinath Tamilarasan
12.30pm - 1.00pm - Loong Soo Jong

Good Luck.

Zainudin
Project Coordinator

FYP Extra Reading : Ben Hall's Ideas for a FYP

Dear Students,

Maybe this could be useful for you especially for Intenet Technology Students

Ideas for a Final Year Project, or just for fun...

As some of you will know, I am currently trying to complete my final year project on web application security, then I thought that some of you might be wondering what to do next year for your project - or looking for something to do on the weekend. So below is a list of some of the ideas I have had which could be really good projects.

Robots / NXT
This is my next thing. Had a NXT since my birthday, however with the Imagine Cup and Uni I haven't had time to sit down and play. If you haven't heard of the NXT, its from Lego Mindstorms, it comes with bluetooth, senors, motors, and other bits of kit to help you build the robot. The main part is a 'brick' which everything plugs into, this is what can be programmed using Lego's own application, Java or .Net. The NXT is even compatible with the new Robotics Studio and with various books being released over the next few months could make for a great project.
More information at: http://mindstorms.lego.com/

XNA
If you interested in games development, then XNA is definitely the way to go. XNA allows you to use the .Net framework to create great looking applications on Windows and XBox 360 platforms. It has been out for a while now so lots of help available online. Games development is out of my scope, but if its your thing then I'm sure you could make something really cool using it.
More information at: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/xna/default.aspx

Mobile phones
Next big platform? Mobile phone applications are still not reaching their full potential, its a fun platform to develop on and it really needs a killer app. The project doesn't have to focus solely on the mobile application, maybe it could communication with other platforms such as Windows Home Server...

Windows Home Server and Home Automation
Windows Home Server is on its way and could be used for home automation. Your project could focus on integrating everything which as lights, alarms, door locks, phones with a great UI. Problem is you have to deal with hardware, but as long as you have the hardware before you start its ok. NEVER rely on unreleased or hard to obtain hardware as if it never arrives, you in trouble... unless you use Mock Objects but still. Make sure you can get access to it.

VoIP/Collaboration
Still yet to reach its full potential, lots could be done around this...

http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/ has lots of different projects which you could find useful to gain ideas from.

Technologies to look at and keep in mind when thinking about your ideas include:
WPF WCF WF / .Net Framework 3.0
Windows Mobile 6
Linq / .Net Framework 3.5
Virtual Earth
Ajax

But most of all, keep it fun, make sure your really interested in the topic area as its going to take up a large amount of your time. Also, make sure you can actually do it, don't attempt to create Gears of War II for your project but at the same time don't sell yourself short by only attempting to create a ASP.net application reading data from a database.

One of the points I was told, last week, was reader/marker of the project should learn something from the work you have completed. Basically, don't re-invent the wheel for the 100th time.

These where just some initial ideas, personally, I wish I had done my project using the NXT and if not that then Mobile Phones. If you have any questions or other ideas, then feel free to post a comment.

Final Year Project May 2007

Dear Students,
So a Fresh new semester and now you are doing Final Year PROJECT!
Are you ready? I hoped so. Anyway, please look out for my latest updates on Final year Project.

Just to remind you that FYP is on these times :

Every Tuesday 6.30pm - 9.30pm for part-time

Every Thursday 2.00 pm - 5.00pm for full-time

Thank you.

Zainudin Johari
Project Coordinator

BIS Tutorial 3

Dear Students,
You may now download Tutorial 3 - Business Softwares.

Tutorial 3 - Business Softwares.

For your reference.

Zainudin

BIS Lecture 3

Dear Students,
You can now download Lecture 3 - Business Softwares .

Lecture 3 - Business Software

For your reference.

Zainudin