BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 1. What is BI? a.

Business intelligence is knowledge about your customers, competitors, business partners, environment and internal operations. It enables effective decision-making. Also called Business Analytics. 2. What are data mining tools? a. Data-mining tools are tools for working with data warehouse information (equivalent to DBMS for a database). There are 4 parts to data-mining tools. Query-and-reporting tools are similar to the database environment. Intelligent Agents use various AI tools such as neural networks and fuzzy logic to form the basis for information discovery and building Business Intelligence. Multidimensional analysis (MDA) tools slice-and-dice techniques that allow you to view multidimensional information from different perspectives. Bringing new layers to the front and reorganizing columns and rows. Statistical tools help you apply various mathematical models to the information stored in a data warehouse to discover new information. 3. How can you perform data mining without slowing down operations? a. A data analyst can perform complex queries and analysis, such as data mining, on the information without slowing down the operational systems. I assume using the tools mentioned in 2. INTERNET AND WEB 1. Know the differences between the Internet and the web. 1. The web is a multimedia-based collection of information, services, and sites supported by the Internet. It's what is seen and interfaced with. The Internet on the other hand, is the vast network of computers that connects millions of people all over the world. In other words, the Internet is the infrastructure. It started before the web, and it actually wasn't designed for the web. 2. Know the basics of Internet technology: Packets, IP Addresses, Routing, DHCP, etc. 1. TCP/IP Protocol 4 layers Physical Data Link IP TCP http ftp mail. Packet technology is an alternative to connection. Every packet includes the source and destination, a time stamp, and other information. Data is broken into manageable fragments (datagram). Each fragment gets a digital envelope (also called a header). A packet is given to the internet for delivery (no connection to source). Data is reassembled at destination. A router looks at incoming packets and makes a routing decision to send it out as fast as possible. They learn about the network from other routers. An IP Address is like a smart telephone number. There are three classes. Class A has the least number of networks, but many more hosts, Class B has the middle of

both and Class C has the most networks and least number of hosts. DHCP, or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, gives you an IP address on demand. Dynamic IP address. We are moving towards Ipv6 from 4. 2. Internet basics involve search engines. Directory search engines organize hierarchical lists. True search engines use key words like Google. A portal is a mix of Yahoo's content, third party content, Search tools, and links to other sites. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is content beyond the minimum, a reputation that includes a lot of links to your site, and keywords and descriptions for the search engine to read. 3. Network Access Points (NAP) point on Internet where connections converge. Network Service Provider (NSP) owns and maintains routing computers, NAPs and connection lines. (AT&T, Sprint) Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides access to the Internet (AOL, Comcast) Connects its computers to the Internet at an NAP 4. Internet Server Computer provides information and services on the Internet. Web servers provide information and services on the Web. Mail servers provide email services. FTP servers maintain files you download. IRC servers support discussion groups and chat rooms. 5. Communications protocol set of rules computers follow to transfer information. Most common include TCP/IP, which is 2 layers out of 4 that make the Internet protocol, http, which is a request/response protocol between client (browser) and Server(web site), and ftp, which stands for file transfer protocol and is used for uploading and downloading files. 6. Telecommunications Hardware includes telephone modems that connect your computer to the Internet via a phone line (slow). DSL uses phone lines but supports simultaneous phone calls (fast). Cable modems which use your cable TV service (fast). Satellite modem is Internet access through satellite dish (fast, with propagation delay). 3. Know web site, web page, and URLs. 1. A web site is a web location where you visit, gather information, and order products. Labeled by a domain name, aka web site address. A web page is a portion of a web site that deals with a certain topic. A URL is an address for a Web page, document, etc. Used by DNS to assign a word address such as www.facebook.com to a physical IP. 4. Know domains, sub-domains, and DNS. 1. A domain is used to identify the organization type. Top level domains are not for sale, but soon you will be able to create one for yourself. A sub-domain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example, maps.google.com. Maps is a subdomain in google. The Domain Name System is like the phonebook of the internet. It takes the IP address and connects it to a name.

5. Know web software. 1. Web browser software enables you to surf the web. i.e. IE, Firefox, Safari. They all take html code and use it to generate a page. Have favorites list and bookmarks. 2. Communications Software includes connectivity software which connects you to your ISP. Web browser software to surf the Web, Email to electronically communicate with e-mail.

DECISION SUPPORT AND ARTICIFIAL INTELLIGENCE 1. What are DSS and AI, and what are their differences? 1. A Decision support system (DSS) is a highly flexible an interactive system that is designed to support decision-making when the problem is not structured. They help you analyze, but you must know how to solve the problem, and how to use the results of the analysis. 1. Model management component DSS models and the model management system 2. Data management component stores and maintains the information that you want to use 3. User interface component allows you to communicate with the DSS 2. Geographic Information System (GIS) is a DSS designed specifically to analyze spatial information (any information in map form). Businesses use GIS software to analyze information, generate BI, and make decisions. 3. Artificial Intelligence is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. It is also the science of making machines imitate human thinking and behavior. A robot is a mechanical device equipped with simulated human senses and the ability to take action on its own. 1. Expert (knowledge-based) System an artificial intelligence system that applies reasoning capabilities to reach a conclusion. Used for diagnostic problems and prescriptive problems. Example: Traffic Light Expert Problem. -Can reduce errors, improve customer service, and reduce cost. -Can't use common sense, or automate all processes. 2. Neural Networks (artificial neural network or ANN) an artificial intelligence system that is capable of finding and differentiating patterns- Multiple layers Input, hidden and output layers. 3. Fuzzy logic - a mathematical method of handling imprecise or subjective information. Used to make ambiguous information. Example: Google's search engine, washing machines, and antilock breaks 4. Genetic Algorithm is an artificial intelligence system that mimics the evolutionary, survival-of-the-fittest process to generate

increasingly better solutions to a problem. Evolutionary Principles 1. Selection survival of the fittest or giving preference to better outcomes 2. Crossover combining portions of good outcomes to create even better outcomes 3. Mutation randomly trying combinations and evaluating the success of each 5. Intelligent agent is software that assists you, or acts on your behalf, in performing repetitive computer-related tasks 1. Information agents are monitoring-and-surveillance or predictive agents 1. Search for information of some kind and bring it back 2. Data-mining agents are user or personal agents 1. Operates in a data warehouse discovering information E-COMMERCE BUSINESS 2 CONSUMER 1. How do online payments work? 1. The customer first selects the item they would like to purchase. They the payment is due. The money must first be cleared and approved, and then confirmed. After all that has occurred, the order is placed and filled before the item is shipped off for delivery. 2. Know the payment methods, and which one is the most popular? 1. There are ways to pay with the cell phone and e-payment systems like Paypal, however, credit cards remain the most popular method of payment. 2. Problems with payment Online shoppers don't sign a credit card slip. Credit cards were not designed for on-line shopping. There is a difference between authentication (what you know) vs. authorization (what you have). Paypal has its own problems of fraudulent accounts. 3. Know the special types of online stores. 1. The e-mall is a portal with pages for all different stores in the same place. Ended up being a failure. There is also the marketplace, which is a place to present and sell my product. An advertising based business model such as google, that gives a service (information) for free, making money off the advertising on its website. The on-line and in-store business model integrates on-line and in-store sale. Shop on like pick up in store, get info online pay in store, shop online return / exchange in store. Very successful. Lastly, the subscription model which asks users to pay for access or usage, such as Netflix or any newspaper. 4. What does not sell well, and what does it mean to drop ship? 1. Things that do not sell well include special delivery items like ice cream. Also, non standard custom orders are hard to complete online, and finally,

high value, high trust items such as fine art and jewelry are not sold online. 2. Having a drop ship company means that you take orders for items, send it on to a supplier who then ships it out for you. Allows you to sell high and buy low. This allows the seller to reduce their risk and get rid of inventory cost. Drop shipping is a supply chain management (SCM) technique where the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders an shipment details to his supplier who then ships the goods directly to the customer. 5. New industries to support e-commerce? 1. Delivery is a huge business for e-commerce because items ordered online need tog et to their owners. Other newly created industries include web hosting, software (catalogs and shopping carts), Interactive Customer Support, On-line advertising, and SEO 6. Advertising, affiliation, and viral marketing. 1. Banners (CPM) pay for impressions (how many times shown) 2. Pay per click (PPC) pay ONLY if ad was clicked, not displayed 3. Pay for action (PAC) Only if they do desired activity, such as a purchase or download. (discontinued by Google) 4. Affiliate program is an arrangement between two e-commerce sites that directs viewers from one site to another. If viewers buy at the second site, the second site pays a small fee to the first site (usually a percentage of the sale). Click-through is the count of the number of people who visit one site and use an ad to get to another. The conversion rate is the percentage of potential customers who actually buy something. May be very expensive to advertise. 5. Viral marketing encourages users of a product or service to encourage friends to join in. Pioneered by ICQ (part of AIM), for Facebook you must be a friend for a lot for content, Blue Mountain Arts link to send a return card and cards to other people. Viral videos are promoted and recommended by viewers of the videos. 7. Know new technologies (flash, cookies, SSL). What is XML? 1. For animation its Flash, for security its Secure Socket Layer (SSL httpS), and cookies are text sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. 2. XML adds meaning to content. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the internet. Users define tags. BUSINESS 2 BUSINESS 1. Why is B2B different than B2C? 1. First, B2B is where over 90% of the money in e-commerce is made. B2B and B2C differences require that you know your customers well, develop the right marketing mix, and move money easily. (SECURITY) 1. Exchange of bank accounts

2. Line of credit 3. Escrow 2. B2B tend to have a simple implementation. They have closed websites that require a login, they use the same technology as B2C and a few extra options for payment. 2. Vertical marketplaces versus horizontal marketplaces. 1. The B2B marketplace is a trading platform (like the stock market). Takes advantage of the e-marketplaces. Electronic marketplace is an interactive business providing a central market where multiple buyers and sellers can engage in e-commerce. 1. Vertical marketplaces connects buyers and sellers in a given industry. Primarily for direct materials. Each industry has unique direct material needs 1. Direct materials are materials that are used in production in a manufacturing company or are placed on the shelf for sale in retail environments. Relate directly to a company's primary business activities. Quality, quantity and delivery timing are important. Orders flow directly from buyer to vendor no ongoing negotiation (contract was signed), IT Integration, Extranet private Internet connecting business partners. 2. Reverse auction process in which a buyer posts its interests in buying items and sellers compete by submitting successively lower bids. (20000 nuts). 2. Horizontal marketplaces connect buyers and sellers across many industries. Primarily for MRO materials. Maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) materials are materials necessary for running a company but do not relate to the company's primary business activities. Office supplies, repair parts. 1. In B2B, buyers make large purchases, then demand a discount to create demand aggregation. Demand aggregation is combining purchase requests from multiple buyers which justifies larger discount. 3. Know MRO and Direct Materials. 1. Maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) materials are materials necessary for running a company but do not relate to the company's primary business activities. Office supplies, repair parts. In B2B, buyers make large purchases, then demand a discount to create demand aggregation. Demand aggregation is combining purchase requests from multiple buyers which justifies larger discount. 2. Direct materials are materials that are used in production in a manufacturing company or are placed on the shelf for sale in retail environments. Relate directly to a company's primary business activities. Quality, quantity and delivery timing are important. Orders flow directly from buyer to vendor no ongoing negotiation (contract was signed), IT Integration, Extranet private Internet connecting business partners. 1. Reverse auction process in which a buyer posts its interests in

buying items and sellers compete by submitting successively lower bids. (20000 nuts). 4. Know Payment Systems. 1. Business customers make large purchases, but do not pay with credit cards or a financial cyber mediary. Pay for many purchases at once. They use financial EDI, or Electronic Data Interchange, direct computer-tocomputer transfer of transaction information is standard business documents, such as invoices and purchase orders. HIGH AVAILABILITY, SECURITY, AND PRIVACY 1. Know intentional vs unintentional availability events as well as internal and external events. 1. External Unintentional - earthquake, floods, power outages 2. Internal Unintentional coffee spills, accidents causing computer issues 3. Internal Intentional people from the inside taking information or sabotaging the network 4. External Intentional trojans, viruses, worms, hackers 2. What are the 5 steps to protect high availability (99.99% uptime reasonable goal = 53 minutes a year)? 1. Physical protection helps protect against events 2, 3, and 4. Involves locked rooms, restricted access, guards and secured facilities. 2. Logical protection helps protect against all 4 events. A firewall puts restrictions on access can be at a computer level, department, location or the entire organization. A proxy server acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers outsiders cannot see real clients (router). Authentication involves who you are, what you know and what you have, such as a fingerprint scan. Performed before authorization. Authorization defines what you can do. It is defined in advance and granted only after successful authentication. Anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove viruses, worms and trojan horses. It may also prevent and remove adware, spyware, and other forms of malware. Encryption involves transforming information to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge (key). And finally, there is Virtual Private Networks (VPN) which use the public network of the Internet for private, secured communication. 3. Redundancy protects against all 4 events as well. There is the component level of redundancy, involving multiples of the same component in case one malfunctions. Then comes the device level involving redundant servers or backup printers. Next is the function level, which involves the mode of getting power for the device in question. Utility power vs generate power vs battery power doesn't care of source, only that it gets power. There may be facility level redundancy is having multiple servers in multiple locations. Data mirroring involves backing up data to an exact copy on one or more backup servers. Finally, N+1 redundancy which uses multiple devices to perform a task

(virtualization) and configure at least one extra device to ensure functionality during failure and repair time. 4. Procedures which also hits all 4 events. Involves data backup, security, training, equipment replacement, password policy, testing and auditing. 5. Monitoring also hits all 4 events because it involves monitoring all aspects for the network in one place. Can see a visualization of the entire network, can test network speeds. 3. Risk Management. 1. Identify Risk 2. Analyze Risk (impact) 3. Reduce Risk 4. Protect / Prevent 5. Monitor 6. Response (contingency plan?) 4. How is privacy attacked and how do you protect yourself? 1. Privacy means to be left alone, to have control over personal possessions, to not be observed without consent, or no intrusion of personal life. Many ways to attack privacy including data theft, data corruption / destruction, competitive advantage, distract operations, damage property, or denial of service attacks. 1. Virus - malicious code that spreads by attaching itself to other legitimate, executable programs. After infecting a machine, a harmful set of actions, known as the payload, are performed. 2. Worm Malicious code that exploits security holes in the network software to self-replicate (does not deliver a payload). Generates enough traffic to slow down/bring down a network. 3. Trojan horse A computer program that claims to, and sometimes does, deliver useful functionality. Delivers a hidden, malicious payload after installation 2. Protect yourself by using the above 5 methods. 5. Know privacy in the workplace. 1. Since the business supplies the workplace, usually the computer, and provides the network, they own the data, including the email address and any messages sent or received. Employers do not violate computer privacy. 6. What is DoS, and why will anyone make it distributed (DDoS)? 1. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks commonly involve saturating the target machine with external communications requests, such that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, or responds so slowly as to be rendered effectively unavailable. By downloading a virus, other people may unintentionally help with the DoS, effectively making it a distributed denial of service (DDoS). Also, since the perpetrators are attempting to slow down the server by constantly sending requests, legitimate people sending requests also help overload the servers.

THE WORLD IS FLAT 1. Globalization (3 phases): 1. 1492-1820: Countries globalizing. World from large to medium. Mainly colonization, exploring, imperialism 2. 1820-2000: Companies globalizing. World from medium to small. 3. Now: Individuals/groups globalizing. Flattening economic playing field. Small to tiny. 2. Business Initiatives and Examples: 1. Jet blue makes flight reservations from home 2. McDonalds takes drive through orders from a call center, takes a picture, and sends back 3. Papa Johns Trucks driven by UPS. (In-sourcing) Take over operation. The actual company is only an advertising shell 3. 10 Flatteners: 1. Berlin Wall Falls & Windows Comes Out 2. Netscape (People connected more, .com boom) 3. Workflow (software like word etc.) 4. Outsourcing 5. Off-Shoring 6. Open sourcing 7. Supply-Chaining 8. In-Sourcing 9. Informing (Google Search) 10. Steroids (wireless, file sharing, voice-over internet. Turbo-charges other flatteners b/c can do anywhere) RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION 1. Know the technology and how it works. 1. RFID is considered the next barcode. EPC codes will have 64 digits. Some are public which are used to identify the code system, identify vendor, and identify product. Other parts will be private, used for internal coding factory, production batch, unique individual item. 2. Passive RFID involves a burst of energy being sent out from a receiver. It charges the RFID chip in target, which then sends out the requested data, at which point the reader processes the information through a host computer or external device through its control lines. 3. Wal-Mart pushed for it to increase supply chain efficiency, requiring madatory RFID tagging to top suppliers. Department of Defense also pushed for it to improve logistics and inventory management (programmable tags). 2. Is it working? 1. There are problems with high-volume scans, metallic products, liquids, and reading. Most places are only using it compliantly when

forced to, and there are few business processes. 2. Crime people can be scanned coming out of a mall, scanning packaging and recycling cans to find out where expensive items are, highway robbery. 3. Applications for the technology. 1. Beef industry tag under cow or specific body parts, controlled distribution, efficient recall. 2. People Under skin tags, medical/security 3. Passports Security, better, faster identification 4. Transportation toll booths, checkpoints and the like 5. Automotive RFID key, RFID tires, anti-theft systems 6. Inventory management RFID reader gate (i/o tracking, shelves (take inventory, fast allocation, find misplaced items), forklifts (know what you carry, avoid errors) 7. Libraries to have smart inventory and to help shelve the books. 8. Sports issues with RFID in soccer, may be perfected 9. Casino and gambling High-value chips have new RFID chips in them 10. Payment quick pay with credit cards 11. Retail in-store inventory management, shrinkage prevention, reduce errors, fast checkout