Long-Term Evolution of a Conceptual Schema at a Life Insurance Company

Enterprises need data resources that are stable and at the same time flexible to support current and new ways of doing business. However, there is a lack of understanding how flexibility of a Conceptual Schema design is demonstrated in its evolution over time. This case study outlines the evolution of a highly integrated Conceptual Schema in its business environment. A gradual decline in schema quality is observed: size and complexity of the schema increase, understandability and consistency decrease. Contrary to popular belief, it is found that changes aren’t driven only by “accepted” causes like new legislation or product innovation. Other change drivers are identified like error correction, changing perceptions of what the information need of the business is and elimination of derived data. The case shows that a real Conceptual Schema is the result of “objective” design practices as well as the product of negotiation and compromise with the user community.

Developing a Homegrown Course Management System

This case describes the development of a unique, student-centered, online course management systems (OCMS). The system grew from a fairly straightforward grade reporting system into a full-blown collaborative system within a short — in traditional information systems development terms — timeframe of approximately one year. The Community/course Action/interaction Management System, known as CAMS©, was developed iteratively with specifications derived from faculty and students working together to address the limitations of existing OCMS and to identify new functions and features that would contribute to the value of the educational experience. To address the most critical issue identified — limited interactive functionality — the participant became the focus of the development process. This case describes the evolution of CAMS© from both a product and a process perspective. Changes made to the system and the factors motivating the changes are discussed, as are challenges faced before, during, and after the development process.

Implementing Relational Database Systems

Traditionally, administrative computing has been the main, or often only, unit in a campus developing and maintaining the basic operating systems of an institution (McKinney et al., 1987). Information resources have been confined to an infrastructure, such as a mainframe computer or minicomputers, which processes registration, financial aid, and other services (Van Dusen, 1997). The advent of increasingly sophisticated software and hardware tools has challenged the centralization of the control and manipulation of information resources. Crow and Rariden (1993) describe an ideal information resource management model as follows: Powerful software tools are available that can essentially eliminate the technical expertise necessary to process either university-wide data or off-campus research databases. … Students, faculty, and administrators will be able to ask and answer their own data-related questions from their desks without the assistance or intervention of a computer center’s staff. (p. 467) To date, no institution has achieved this ideal (Van Dusen, 1997). However, colleges and universities are making progress toward it. This chapter describes the experiences of two institutions, University of Redlands and Cabrillo College, as they implement similar relational database systems. It describes the effects of the implementation process on the institutional administrative cultures, and the implications for information resource management.

Public Sector Data Management in a Developing Economy

An island state government agency responsible for publishing monthly import/export data had problems meeting the monthly publication schedule. It took the group more than three months to process data from a single month. A new director for the unit was under pressure to publish the import/export data at least quarterly. An initial investigation reviewed problems of inefficiency, poor technical support, downsizing under budget reduction, and confusing data standards. The data processing staffs had minimal technical skill with some approaching retirement. There were increasing expectations for the unit to provide enriched and customized data, which could strain the capability and resources of the unit. A general deficiency in computer and information literacy gave little hope for internal information resource development. On the other hand, concerns for information privacy, shrinking budget, and control over data resources limited potential assistance from outside groups.

Isobord's Geographic Information System (GIS) Solution

Isobord, a start-up company that is setting up a new strawboard production plant in Manitoba, Canada, is facing critical operational problems that threaten its future. Isobord’s product is a high quality particleboard substitute that uses straw, rather than wood, as the main raw manufacturing material. To achieve viability, Isobord must develop processes to carefully coordinate and manage its straw baling, stacking and hauling operations. Through effective information systems, Isobord has the potential to reduce the amount of equipment it needs to purchase to meet straw harvest requirements. A small investment in optimization technology could yield considerable cost savings if the efficiency of capital equipment can be improved. A geographic information system (GIS)/relational database management system (RDBMS) solution is being explored, but budget and time constraints, as well as organizational inexperience, seriously threaten the project. An information technology decision must be made immediately if there is to be any hope of implementing technology to manage the first year’s straw harvest.

Prudential Chamberlain Stiehl

This case describes the evolution of an IT architecture for Prudential Chamberlain Stiehl Realtors (PCSR), a 14-office, 250-sales-agent real estate firm located in Southeast Michigan. Initially, the CIO of the firm concentrated on providing basic connectivity to sales agents and a simple World Wide Web (WWW) presence. Although this was accepted by users and moved the firm forward technically, management questioned the value of this technology. In the next phase of development, PCSR worked to build a “rich” set of applications that enhance the firm’s relationships with clients and agents. At the end of the case, the CIO ponders future moves in technology and their impact on the firm’s strategy.

Implementing a Data Mining Solution for an Automobile Insurance Company

The insurance company in this case study operates in a highly competitive environment. In recent years it has explored data mining as a means of extracting valuable information from its huge databases in order to improve decision making and capitalise on the investment in business data. This case study describes an investigation into the benefits of data mining for an anonymous Australian automobile insurance company.1 Although the investigation was able to demonstrate quantitative benefits of adopting a data mining approach, there are many practical issues that need to be resolved before the data mining approach can be implemented.

The Benefits of Data Warehousing at Whirlpool

In today’s competitive, high-velocity business environment, companies are focusing their attention on several key areas, including: • Incremental continuous quality improvement; • More radical redesign of business processes; • Supply chain management; • Improved customer orientation; and • Globalization of business operations. At Whirlpool, data warehousing is providing important support in all of these critical areas (see Table 1). To illustrate, Whirlpool’s data warehouse enables quality engineers to easily track the performance of component parts. This allows the engineers to assess new components that are being field tested, to quickly detect problems with particular parts, and to identify the high and low quality suppliers. From a different perspective, suppliers can check on the performance of the parts they supply and, consequently, can manage proactively the quality provided to Whirlpool. Purchasing managers have parts information from around the world so that they can find the lowest-cost, highest quality part available on a global basis. This case study briefly describes Whirlpool, the business need that suggested a data warehouse, the approval process, and the data warehouse that was built. It describes how the data warehouse is accessed, how users are trained and supported, and the major applications and benefits. The lessons learned also are described to benefit those companies that are implementing or thinking about implementing data warehousing. Like most companies, Whirlpool is continually changing. This case study describes Whirlpool and its data warehousing initiative through the end of 1997.

The Algos Center

Two systems faculty from a university was contracted to perform an analysis of information systems at the Algos Center, a small non-profit charitable organization which provides support for children and their families facing losses. The Center specifically requested help in integrating its fundraising and accounting software packages or exploring alternative software solutions. It also needed to generate reports required by the board of directors and United Way. Finally, the Center requested help in designing a family database to capture and track statistics about the families receiving services. As the team analyzed the Center, they discovered many underlying issues that would form part of their recommendations to the staff. This case makes two contributions. First, it reveals many problems facing small non-profit organizations, which primarily expend their resources on mission-critical activities, and allows readers to supply possible courses of action. Second, it provides an opportunity to evaluate how a consulting experience was handled and to make recommendations to ensure successful project implementation.

LIBNET

In any cooperative database the participants contribute their data for their own as well as the benefit of the other members, usually with incentives from the database administrators. A South African library network company (LIBNET) provided a networked service to participating libraries. Member benefits included conversion of their catalogues into machine-readable form, significantly reduced costs through cooperative cataloguing and more efficient interlibrary loans through a union catalogue of the holdings of the participant libraries. This case study explores some of the issues In any cooperative database the participants contribute their data for their own as well as the benefit of the other members, usually with incentives from the database administrators. A South African library network company (LIBNET) provided a networked service to participating libraries. Member benefits included conversion of their catalogues into machine-readable form, significantly reduced costs through cooperative cataloguing and more efficient interlibrary loans through a union catalogue of the holdings of the participant libraries. This case study explores some of the issues.