BUSINESS INFORMATION
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
Dr. Anindita Paul
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode
INFRASTRUCTURES
Session 6
Learning Objective
What are the different components of MIS infrastructure?
What are the primary types of MIS Infrastructure?
What are the three primary areas associated with MIS Infrastructure?
What are the environmental impacts of MIS?
What are the three components of a sustainable MIS Infrastructure
and its business benefits?
What are the characteristics of an Agile MIS Infrastructure?
The Business Benefits of a Solid MIS
Infrastructure
MIS infrastructure Includes the plans for how a firm will
build, deploy, use, and share its data, processes, and MIS
assets
Hardware
Software
Network
Client
Server
A Multitiered Client/Server Network (N-tier)
In a multitiered client/server network, client requests for service are handled by
different levels of servers.
The Business Benefits of A Solid MIS
Infrastructure
Supporting operations
Information MIS infrastructure
Supporting change
Agile MIS Infrastructure
Supporting the environment
Sustainable MIS infrastructure
Enterprise Architects help in the above. They are people grounded in technology,
fluent in business, and able to provide bridge between MIS and business. They can
help firms manage change and dynamically update MIS infrastructure
Connection Between The Firm, IT
Infrastructure, and Business Capabilities
The services a firm is capable of providing to its customers, suppliers, and employees are a direct function of its IT
infrastructure. Ideally, this infrastructure should support the firms business and information systems strategy. New
information technologies have a powerful impact on business and IT strategies, as well as the services that can be
provided to customers.
The IT Infrastructure Ecosystem
There are seven major
components that must
be coordinated to
provide the firm with a
coherent IT
infrastructure. Listed
here are major
technologies and
suppliers for each
component.
The Business Benefits of a Solid MIS
Infrastructure
Supporting operations
Information MIS infrastructure
Supporting change
Agile MIS Infrastructure
Supporting the environment
Sustainable MIS infrastructure
Supporting Operations: Information MIS
Infrastructure
Information MIS Identifies where and how important
information is maintained and secured. Supports day-to-day
business operations and plans for emergencies natural or
man-made.
Backup and recovery plan
Disaster recovery plan
Business continuity plan
Backup and Recovery Plan
Backup An exact copy of a systems information
Recovery The ability to get a system up and running in the
event of a system crash or failure
maintaining an identical replica or redundant copy of
storage server, external hard drives, thumb drives, and
DVDs. Vary by speed and cost.
Backup and Recovery Plan
Fault tolerance
ability for a system to respond to unexpected failures or system crashes
as the backup system immediately and automatically takes over with no
loss of service. Expensive
Failover
specific type of fault tolerance, occurs when a redundant storage server
offers an exact replica of the real-time data and if the primary server
crashes the users are automatically directed to the secondary server or
backup server. High speed and expensive
Failback
the primary machine recovers and resumes operations taking over from
the secondary server.
Backup and Recovery Plan
Disaster recovery plan - A detailed process for recovering
information or an IT system in the event of a catastrophic
disaster such as a fire or flood
Disaster recovery cost curve - Charts (1) the cost to the
organization of the unavailability of information and
technology and (2) the cost to the organization of recovering
from a disaster over time
Backup and Recovery Plan
Backup and Recovery Plan
Hot site - A separate and fully equipped facility where the
company can move immediately after a disaster and resume
business
Cold site - A separate facility that does not have any computer
equipment, but is a place where employees can move after a
disaster
Warm site A separate facility with computer equipment that
requires installation and configuration
TechTargets Disaster Recovery strategies
for Businesses
Business Continuity Plan
Business continuity planning (BCP) - A plan for how an
organization will recover and restore partially or completely
interrupted critical function(s) within a predetermined time
after a disaster or extended disruption
Business Continuity Plan
Emergency a sudden unexpected
event requiring immediate action
Emergency preparedness ensures
a company is ready to respond to an
emergency in an organized, timely,
and effective manner
Business Continuity Plan
Business impact analysis Identifies all critical business functions
and the effect that a specific disaster may have upon them
Technology failure occurs when the ability of a company to operate
is impaired because of a hardware, software, or data outage
Incident Unplanned interruption of a service
Incident management the process responsible for managing how
incidents are identified and corrected
Business Continuity Plan
TechTargets Business Continuity Strategies
MIS and the Environment
Moores Law - Refers to the computer chip performance per
dollar doubles every 18 months
Sustainable, or green, MIS - Describes the production,
management, use, and disposal of technology in a way that
minimizes damage to the environment
Corporate social responsibility - Companies acknowledged
responsibility to society
MIS and the Environment
Three Primary Side Effects of Businesses
Expanded Use of Technology
Increased Electronic Waste
Ewaste - Refers to discarded, obsolete or broken electronic devices
Sustainable MIS disposal - Refers to the safe disposal of MIS assets at
the end of their life cycle
Increased Energy Consumption
Energy consumption The amount of energy consumed by
business processes and systems
Huge increases in technology use have greatly amplified
energy consumption
The energy consumed by a computer is estimated to
produce as much as 10 percent of the amount of carbon
dioxide produced by an automobile
Increased Carbon Emissions
Carbon emissions Carbon dioxide and carbon
monoxide produced by business processes and systems
When left on continuously, a single desktop computer
and monitor can consume at least 100 watts of power
per hour
The Story of Electronics
SUPPORTING THE ENVIRONMENT: SUSTAINABLE MIS
INFRASTRUCTURE
The components of
a sustainable MIS
infrastructure
include
Grid Computing
Grid computing - A collection of computers, often
geographically dispersed, that are coordinated to solve a
common problem
Business benefits of grid computing include:
Improved productivity and collaboration of virtual organizations
and respective computing and data resources.
Allowing widely dispersed departments and businesses to
create virtual organizations to share data and resources.
Robust and infinitely flexible and resilient operational
architectures.
Providing instantaneous access to massive computing and data
resources.
Leveraging existing capital investments, which in turn help to
ensure optimal utilization and costs of computing capabilities.
Virtualization
Virtualization is the
abstraction of IT resources that masks the physical nature and boundaries of those
resources from users.
creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as an operating
system, a server, a storage device or network resources.
An IT resource can be a server, a client, storage, networks, applications or operating systems.
a form of consolidation that can benefit sustainable MIS infrastructures in a variety of ways,
for example:
By increasing availability of applications that can give a higher level of performance
depending on the hardware used.
By increasing energy efficiency by requiring less hardware to run multiple systems or
applications.
By increasing hardware usability by running multiple operating systems on a single
computer.
Virtualized Computing
Virtualization - Creates multiple virtual machines on a
single computing device
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing model in which any and all IT resources are
delivered as a set of services via the Internet
Characteristics of Cloud Computing
Many Implementations of the Cloud
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model for software in which you pay for
software on a pay-per-use basis instead of buying the software outright.
Supports multi-tenancy
Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) delivery model for software identical to SaaS with the
additional features of
1. The ability to customize data entry forms, screens, reports, and the like
2. Access to software development tools to alter the way in which the software
works by adding new modules (services) and/or making modifications to
existing modules
Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) - model in which you acquire all your technology
needsstorage hardware and data, network equipment, application software,
operating system software, data backups, CPU processing capabilities, you-name-it
softwarein the cloud.
All you need smartphone/tablet and peripheral devices (e.g., printer)
SaaS and Multi-Tenancy
PaaS
Supporting Change: Agile MIS Infrastructure
Characteristics of an agile MIS infrastructure
Accessibility
Availability
Maintainability
Portability
Reliability
Scalability
Usability
Accessibility
Accessibility - Refers to the varying levels that define what a
user can access, view, or perform when operating a system
Web accessibility Allows people with disabilities to use the
Web
Administrator access Unrestricted access to the entire
system
Availability
Availability Time frames when the system is operational
Unavailable Time frames when a system is not operating
and cannot be used
High availability System is continuously operational at all
times
Maintainability
Maintainability How quickly a system can transform to
support environmental changes
Organizations must watch todays business, as well as
tomorrows, when designing and building systems
Systems must be flexible enough to meet all types of
business changes
Portability
Portability The ability of an application to operate on
different devices or software platforms
Reliability
Reliability - Ensures a system is functioning correctly and
providing accurate information
Reliability is another term for accuracy when discussing the
correctness of systems within the context of efficiency IT
metrics
Vulnerability a system weakness that can be exploited by
a threat
Scalability
Scalability - How well a system can scale up, or adapt to the
increased demands of growth
Performance - Measures how quickly a system performs a
process or transaction
Capacity planning - Determines future environmental
infrastructure requirements to ensure high-quality system
performance.
How does Web 2.0 drive capacity planning?
Usability
Usability The degree to which a system is easy to learn
and efficient and satisfying to use
Serviceability How quickly a third-party can change a
system to ensure it meets user needs and the terms of any
contracts, including agreed levels of reliability,
maintainability, or availability
CareGroup
CareGroup was formed in a three way merger of hospital in 1996.
The merger was precipitated by
increased need for negotiating and contracting power to respond to the HMOs.
possibility of developing integrated services to improve quality of care while
driving down the costs and the need for a strong balance sheet.
Health-care team dedicated to provide personalized care to patients through a broad
spectrum of available services
merger was driven by an intense competitive environment, brought about by a
similar merger of Massachusetts General Hospital and the Bringhan and Women's
Hospital, now known as Partners Medical Group.
The 5 member hospitals were:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston
Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge
New England Baptist Hospital in Boston
Deaconess-Glover Hospital in Needham
Deaconess-Nashoba Hospital in Ayer(spun off December 31, 2002)
The Key Business Processes of CareGroup:
Surgery
Inpatient and outpatient centres
Primary cost offices
Care units
Rehabilitation Services
24-hr emergency department
Clinical Laboratory Facilities
Health Centres
All these processes are convolutedly linked to IT
Challenges faced by CareGroup after
Merger:
Mount Aubum Hospital, which had been profitable for over 15 years, suddenly
produced a $10 million loss and had to re-engineer its operations.
Operational Coordination was extremely difficult due to their history of
independence.
Success from Merger:
Integrated Technology System---Entire groups are linked together
Financial synergy led to lower debt costs and lower expenditures
Contracting with HMOs have shown greater improvement over
the years
Gained a substantial amount of bargaining tools against the
HMOs since they have a massive patient base, amounting to
about 2 to 3 million patients annually
CIO of CareGroup: John Halamka
Graduated from Stanford University
with a Computer and Economics
degree
He simultaneously completed an
Engineering course and a Medical
course at Berkeley Engineering
School and UCSF Medical School
respectively
In 1996, he moved to Harvard to
practice emergency medicine at the
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Centre and took up postdoctoral
work at MIT
Brought to be the CIO of CareGroup
in November 1998
Turn of events
When John took over, the possibility of problems arising
from the turn of the century was on the front burner.
A backup system was developed in attempt to mitigate
possible damages resulting from the event.
By 2002, the issue of decentralization of the systems of the
hospitals had been address through the creations of a
common system for all hospital.
Centralised
Shared customer
(patients)
Shared data (patient
medical records, test
results etc)
Centralized system
Linked Processes
Decentralised
Operations will not be able to compromise and continued should one particular
networks goes down
November 13, 2002
A researcher left new untested software running in the
network causing it to collapse.
He was experimenting on a Knowledge Management
Application based on file sharing that would work as a
Napster for Healthcare
The s/w was designed to locate and copy information across
the network automatically.
After effects
Monopolised the services of a centrally located network switch. No other data could
get through this switch, nor was it able to respond to queries from other network
components asking if it was still functioning.
Since the network was physically redundant throughout, there were alternative paths
along which the data could flow.
As network components tried to calculate new paths along which data could flow,
they started deciding which would act as primary and which as backups and
became confused.
Algorithms could no longer operate correctly resulting in chaos (backup components
acting as primary hence duplicating primarys functionality, messages started
bouncing back and forth in an endless loop etc.)
Problems that CareGroup faced that caused the
collapse in network
The proprietary network at CareGroup was poor in design
CareGroup lacked a standardized operational flow
Little control and IT governance on common users to access or make
changes to the network configuration
Ineffective and not organised disaster recovery procedures and backup
process
Too heavily depended on a single employee
Ineffective management of customer centric requests
Getting the Network back
CISCO worked round the clock to get the network back and running.
Experts were engaged from all over the world to complete all the troubleshooting as
quickly as possible.
Finally, after the network had been upgraded, they handed the network fully back to
CareGroup.
Decision to Remain on Backup Procedures
Frequent switching could result in more potential risks to patient
The decision to fully adopt a paper-based system was a success as it
prevented any duplication of work when it would be disrupted if the
network were to fail again
Decision to function predominantly on a paper-based information
systems also helped the IT group in their efforts to diagnose the
problems without concern for disruption of routine clinical activity
Cisco could also test the network fully without any fear of disrupting
operations, this made it easier for them to diagnose the problem
Lessons Learnt
Do not hesitate to bring in the experts to make sure your network is configured properly
CareGroup spending US$300,000 to obtain support by CISCO for the network
implemented
2 engineers remained onsite permanently
Do not let any one individual in your IT group become the sole point of failure
IT staff relied too heavily on single employee as theres no one to offer a second opinion
about the networks configuration
Have few or several IT experts to deal with the issue
Keep your working knowledge current
Ensure that the knowledge is current.
Ensure that staff is kept up to date with the skill sets required to handle the systems
after going through the upgrades
Beware of users armed with just enough knowledge to be dangerous
Everyone would experiment with the local network in one way or another, always not the
changes and be vigilant over it
Lessons Learnt
Institute rigorous network change control
Ensure that the systems are kept up to date
Adapt to externalities
There are limits to customer-centric responsiveness
Have backup procedures in which you can have confidence
Paper systems because of Y2K preparedness
Paper system would need to be robust
Component redundancy is not enough; you need alternative access methods
Life-cycle-manage your network components
