Outcome 1 – Role of business information in decision making
Within Ice Queen planning, control and decision-making is carried out at various levels within the structure of the organisation. The three levels at which information can be used are strategic, tactical and operational and there is a direct connection between the levels of importance of individuals or groups within an organisation and the level of information that is being communicated.
Strategic
Strategic information is used at the very top level of management within an organisation. These are chief executives or directors who have to make decisions for the long term. Strategic information is broad based and will use a mixture of information gathered from both internal and external sources. A general timescale may be from one to five years or even longer depending on the project. Strategic plans will have little or no detail in them and more detailed strategic plans will be made slightly lower down the managerial ladder. A good strategic plan will be easier to flesh out lower down than a poor or vague strategic plan.
Tactical
The next level down is the tactical level, and tactical planning and decision-making takes place within the guidelines set by the strategic plan. Tactical information will be mostly internal with a few external sources being used. Tactical information is used by middle management (employees) when managing or planning projects. The timescale is usually at least between 6 months and 5 years (depending on the scale of the strategic project). Circumstances vary but a small project may have a tactical timescale of between one and six months. Tactical plans have a medium level of detail and will be very specific; they deal with such matters as who is doing what and within what specific budgets and timescales. These plans have medium scope and will address details at the operational level. They will generally have specific objectives and be geared towards implementation by operational level employees.
Operational
The lowest level is operational and operational planning takes place based on the tactical plans.
The lowest level of management or workers in an organisation implements operational plans. These may be section leaders or foremen in a large organisation or workers in smaller businesses where there is no supervisory layer. The timescale is usually very short, anything from immediately, daily or at most a week or month. Results of operational work will usually be passed upwards to let the tactical planners evaluate their plans.
Internal External
Strategic Where the company is now
and deciding any changes to
get to a better overall direction. Market share growth, market
leadership and innovation in
product development.
Tactical Reduce the costs associated
with production mistakes or to
increase employee
satisfaction and loyalty.
Technological changes new
products which deems more
efficient to the workplace.
Operational Raw materials, goods in
process and finished
products ready for output.
New employees who are
trained to their full potential
and can benefit the organisation.
Outcome 2 – Data Communications and ICT Innovations
1. LAN (Local Area Network) – A group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line or wireless link to a server. Typically, a LAN encompasses computers and peripherals connected to a server within a small geographic area such as an office building or home. Computers and other mobile devices can share resources such as a printer or network storage. A user can share files with others stored on the LAN server; read and write access is maintained by a network administrator. A LAN server may also be used as a Web server if safeguards are taken to secure internal applications and data from outside access.
WAN (Wide Area Network) – This is similar to a LAN but is a bigger network of computers that span along a long geographical distance via telephone lines, fibre optic cables or satellite links. Using this as a means of taking individual location based computer networks and creating a unified computer network for the entire corporation means that employees can work from just about anywhere. Should one facility be damaged or rendered inaccessible due to natural disaster, employees simply move to another location where they can access the unified network, and keep on working.
Intranet – An intranet is a private network accessible only to an organisation's employee’s, the main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources amongst the employees. An intranet can also be used to simplify working in groups and for teleconferences.
All the above data communication systems are similar to each other because they have the ability to transfer data quickly across both small and large distances, they can also share information within the organisation. Data communication happens whenever at least two computers transmit information to each other. In order for this communication to work, a system must be in place that transfers the information from point A to point B. This can be simple, as in a cable that connects one computer to another, or it can be complex, as in the device that connects a WAN or LAN.
2. Ice Queen are having some problems with efficiency and the ability to retrieve accurate information, with the introduction of the 3 data communication systems below this will significantly improve the organisation.
Intranet Benefits
Better internal communications – intranets can act as communication hubs for staff. Company information such as memos, staff news and announcements can be stored centrally and accessed at any time.
Sharing of resources and best practice – a virtual workspace and community can be created to facilitate information storing, sharing and collaborative working. An intranet can also act as a training platform when providing online training content to staff.
LAN Benefits
Connection – tends to require some relatively simple things to set it up. All you need is some Ethernet cables, a network switch, and you are good to go.
Standard PC hardware – is used for network workstations and servers, which provide a great deal of design flexibility, easy maintenance and cost efficiency.
WAN Benefits
Communication – covers a large geographical area so long distance businesses can connect on the one network.
Data – everyone on the network can use the same data. This avoids problems where some users may have older information than others.
3. Ice Queen must take steps to help stop security threats happening within the organisation the following are common threats to the workplace:
Trojan Horse Virus – is a program in which a malicious or harmful code is contained inside harmless programmes or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage such as damaging files. Ice Queen should invest in a programme such as Norton or McAfee Virus Programme this will keep their computers safe.
Phishing – is an e-mail fraud method in which the wrongdoer sends out legitimate looking emails in an attempt to gather personal and financial information i.e. theft of money or identity theft from recipients. Ice Queen should follow these basic steps to help avoid these scams:
Pay attention to the sender
Be cautious of emails that request your personal information
Check the links before clicking
Only give sensitive information over secure connections
Keep your web browser up to date
Install an anti-phishing web browser add-on or software
Check your bank account often
Password Attacks – are attacks that are
done by hackers that are able to determine passwords or find passwords to different protected electronic areas. Many systems are password protected on a network it is one of the easiest way to obtain private information because you are able to get software online that can obtain passwords for wrongdoers. To help stop password attacks happening with Ice Queen they should follow these simple rules:
Implement an account lockout policy, after three failed login attempts, the account is locked out until an administrator unlocks it.
Challenge-response test to prevent automated submissions of the login page. Tools such as the free reCAPTCHA can be used to require the user to enter a word or solve a simple math problem to ensure the user is, in fact, a person. This technique is effective, but has accessibility concerns and affects usability of the site.
Enforce the use of strong passwords, at a minimum, requiring users to choose passwords of eight letters or more with some complexity i.e. letters and numbers, or requiring one special character is an excellent defence against password attacks when combined with one of the techniques outlined above.