A sensitive, ethical IT issue: monitoring e-mail

Following up our class discussion today, one issue that wasn't really talked about was the ability of businesses to monitor e-mail. Should e-mail be monitored? Under what circumstances does it make it okay to punish an offender? Not only is the moral issue of monitoring e-mail gray, but the legality is too, which is why internet and computer law is becoming a hotter and hotter field.

Part of the philosophy of whether or not one should monitor employees and punish offenders comes from precautionary vs. proactive ideas. Let's say that for the second time, an important trade secret has been leaked or even sold to a competitor. What is the right choice to make when solving this problem? Should one monitor all employees heavily or write it off as a necessary evil?

Legally, the area of computers as property is still somewhat debatable. Some courts rule that the computer is like a box; once you open it you've broken and entered into an area needing a warrant. Others view each folder like individual boxes; each one requiring its own warrant.

Egregious violations of common workplace morals should be punished with question, i.e. pornography. Is the type of pornography bad enough to get someone fired? A warning? Most, if not all workplaces take a categorical imperative approach, that is to say that viewing of pornography disrupts the workplace as a whole.

It will be interesting to see how this area of law and morals is shaped as the world becomes increasingly flatter.

RFID Tags

In class on Tuesday, we got into a discussion about RFID tags and how they can be implemented into business. One of the scenarios that was brought up was putting these tags in items at stores. The positives noted were that it would help avoid any mis-labeling by a worker resulting in an incorrect price when scanned, they could create programmable shopping lists down the road that link up with the RFID tags that alert people when they pass an item, and also it can help prevent theft by putting scanners by each entrance.

One of the problems with all of this that came up was what was to happen with these tags after the purchase is made? Can anyone on the streets scan your house with a device and find out all of the goods you possess in your home? One solution to this problem was to somehow make the RFID tag deactivate once it has been scanned and purchased at the store, eliminating the ability of people to scan your goods. The problem with that idea is that if someone wanted to return the item, the tag would be expired and it would complicate the process.

My solution to this problem came to me when I thought of something we learned much earlier in class. How about stores put an encryption on their RFID tags that only that specific store holds the key to and implement that technology into the tags. That way, not only can people off the streets not be able to scan your items, but stores can be sure that the item that the customer is trying to return was purchased from their store. Just a thought.

Business Process Modeling

Modeling is a very important aspect of business. Business Process Modeling is usually performed by managers and analysts, who are seeking ways to improve the business and promote efficiency in the company. This is generally done using computer software, but is not required to do so. Managers then use these models to attempt to incorporate change into their organizations. Although most models alone can not provide adequate information to improve the company by themselves, technology is advancing to the point where computer simulations may enable businesses to predict different outcomes that changes will bring, with increased accuracy.

The history of Business Process Modeling dates back to the early 1900's with the development of the Gantt Chart, which is basically a bar chart that shows a projects schedule. It was developed by Henry Gantt, and is still widely used today, as the invention of computers has given it new capabilities. however there are numerous business process models that are currently used. Some of them include flow charts, block diagrams, PERT diagrams, IDEF, and control flow diagrams. These are all valuable tools that companies use in order to enhance their operations. A fun fact is that all of these models were developed before the term business process model, which was popularized by a man named S. Williams in 1967.

Business process modeling is made up of many different components. It generally uses the business's overall business model, then integrates specific processes into it, in order to illustrate what steps are taken during the process. After this analysts and managers generally research the model, attempting to find areas for improvement and then predicting different outcomes that changes will bring to the process. There are many different tools and languages that can be involved in a business process model, which is more of a topic for another blog. There are also many related processes that business process models enhance; these include business reference models, business process integration, business process re-engineering, and business process management.

Interaction

A few weeks ago in class we were talking about interaction and why it is used in business. we found out that it is important in the business worls because it helps us better understand the business as a whole. There are three kinds of interactions, we have computer-computer, human-human, and human-computer. Out of the three kinds of interaction we discussed, human-computer is my favorite and the most ineresting.

There is so much we can do with this type of interaction. Many of us use facebook, twitter, and other social networking sites everyday. If we really want to get technical, all we do is sit around and pass messages to one another through a computer. It's kind of lazy, but to us, it is entertaining- or at least it makes the time go by. Older adults will say we are wasting our time but I don't see how.

By sitting down at a computer, we can do our homework, chat with our friends, check emails, pay bills and even do some online shopping. All of this will take no less than 2-3 hours depending on what we have to do. On the other hand, if we weren't using the computer and we had to do every last one of the previously listed activities, it will take us alot longer because we have to get our cars and drive all over the place.

Human computer interaction is getting more and more advanced as the years go by. I hope I'm around long enough to see my kids have college courses in a room filled with nothing but chairs, tables, and one large computer. Sorry professors, this may mean a cutback in your profession.

TPS Reports

Today in class, we briefly discussed TPS Reports. I thought it would be fun to look into these having watched the movie "Office Space" and hearing about them and how bad they are. First off, TPS Reports stands for Transaction Processing Systems. Now, what TPS Reports are, are just systems that monitor, collect, stores, and processes data that is generated from all business transactions.

If you have seen the movie "Office Space" you know all about the TPS Reports. For those of you that haven't; the main character, Michael works for a company called "Initech" in an office setting. Michael and his two friends that work for Initech, hate their jobs and attempt to secretly steal money through the system. Michael is constantly harrassed by his boss, Bill Lumbergh about getting the TPS Reports done. The movie portrays TPS Reports as something horrible and how people hate doing them. As I tried researching TPS Reports, there didn't appear to be a whole lot of information about them. Mostly it was things from the movie as I searched for the Reports.

The point is, TPS Reports are pretty plain and simple. They are how they sound; a processing system that monitors, collects and stores data that has been generated from all business transactions. If you really want to understand TPS Reports, I would suggest watching the movie Office Space and that will give you a better feel of peoples feelings towards them.

Business Measurements

In my post today I would like to talk about business measurements. Measurements are very important in running a successful business. Some fields of business such as accounting, are almost completely composed of measuring financial data. All fields of business are centered around measurements even if it does not seem like it. For example a cook has to know how much of any particular ingredient he has before he can make a dish. Another would be the a salesman would want to know the demographic of their target customer base in order to cut out people who most likely would not be interested in his products. Almost all information is relevant in business even many of the obscure facts.

For a business to be considered successful it has to be profitable. In order to achieve this status, a business must use measurement to find out where they can be most efficient in the use of their capital (money, resources, labor). Without these measurements most businesses would be sure to fail, because they would have no way to determine how they were doing, and information would be inconclusive as to whether they were making money or not. Also without business measurements in place it would be very easy for people to steal from a business, as they could not prove that they were missing anything.

Measurements are important for more than just for their own good however, business measurements are also for the good of the stockholders and the customers. A stockholder always wants data on a business before they invest money into it. also a customer may want to see how a business is holding up financially before buying a product or service from that business. Especially if they think they might want to return a product that they buy, or in case they need replacement products from that company. In conclusion business measurements are a fundamental part of business, and are important for the growth and longevity of any industry.

Language and Programming Computers

Throughout time, our language and computer systems have grown in leaps and bounds. Going from nothing to the creation of computers is a big step in itself. As we've learned more about computers, people have learned to program them and create another language within the computers so that the system understands what is being put into it and knows exactly what we want out of it. We can now store data and information and then go back to retrieve it later on.

We've come so far in the technological world to the point where businesses will store all their information and data in a computer system and depend on them every day in almost every thing they do. People no longer have to keep files and files of paperwork, they can just enter all of it into a computer program and let that keep track of the information. Then, when they need to find something, they go back to that and there it is. It's pretty incredible when you think about it. I mean to rely so heavily on something, means that people trust the products they've been supplied with and if anything should happen to it, they could lose years of data or information and all that time spent putting it into the system. I honestly don't see how many businesses could stay efficient and up to date with all of their files without a computer program. Every aspect of the business world is dependant on computers now days. People keep track of shipping and order certain parts for their business with a filing system based from a certain type of computer program. In accounting and finance, all their work is in the computer systems.

All I'm saying is to really think about how far we've come and how dependant we are on these systems that people have created for us. Would the world be the same without the programming we've done and all the technology that has been put into computer systems? Absolutely not, this is the fastest, most efficient and most accurate type of filing systems we have. We already have so much now, I can't even begin to imagine what will be in store for us next as we move on down the road. Just think about what life in general and in the business world would be like without all of this around us.
Matt