A company's best practices in IS

Hubport Interactive is an IT based company that enables a business to build an imperative subsistence in the online B2C (Business-to-Consumer) space. They empower their customers' websites to attain optimum function and revolutionizes business by creating online channels to effectively connect with existing clients and successfully tap new ones. Their accomplished E-Commerce Storefront encoders, Retail Shop Managers, and Online Marketing Consultants provide the technology backbone that launch prospering and profitable websites.(http://www.hubportinteractive.com/about-us.htm)

As the interviewee say, the company started only with eight people, which is composed of six(6) developers and two(2) designers. They don't really have an IS to keep track of their business' movement. They only use one(1) computer and basic softwares for their business. Records for the deadline is aided by pen and paper. From that very simple alliance they have evolve into something big that they even reached and surpassed the boundary of the Philippines. Now, they've been working with more or less one hundred and fifty(150) staffs. The speaker added that they started establishing and using IS for their growing business in the year late 2006, particularly on the month of November.

As he has discussed that the role of IS/IT in the business is, it is the core or the backbone of their business, in which these systems keep track of their customers, old and new, and their staffs. He define IT/IS very important, that is ranging from software, which is essential for website developing and it can identify errors and split them up much faster than usual, with manual; hardware on the other hand, acts as the server and it is necessary for the staffs to have at least one(1) computer each, these hardwares are connected to each other, which is technically called networking, particularly by WAN or wide-area network, they use WAN because the company is based from the main office, which is located at the United States of America or USA, through internet; peopleware as the speaker says, are the one who develops, secures and maintains hardware and software, thus software and hardware relies on the people ware. As he said, "Hardwares would just be there without peopleware". These three things work together to uphold the business thus, enabling them to reach the full functionality of their company so they can provide the very best solution they can give for their clients and customers.

Their best practices in IT/IS are discussed too. He said that the business keeps documentation, back up, security and recovery plan.

He has explained and stated situations for us to understand their best practices.

* Documentation

It is keeping track of everything, that is ranging from having a list of blocked sites in the company to logging in and logging out of the staffs. As an example, the System Manager blocked a certain site on the internet without knowing that some of the staffs are using the site. as expected the staff will come up to the manager and tell him the problem. With the list, the manager would be able to unblock the site immediately.

* Back up Internet Provider

This one speaks of their internet connection, since they are sub-company of an international company internet is essential to their business. Internet access keeps them in touch with their valued customers inside and outside the Philippines. Their internet connection or connections are provided by Bayan Telecommunication, Globe Telecommunication and PLDT or Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. The ITofficer showed us their system, he showed us how they keep track of the internet he also explained that their system is connected into one internet connection at a time, this means that they will only use the back up connections when the connection their using in the mean time has loss its connection or as the term called server down. They would have to plug out the cable for the connection then plug it in on the active server.

* Security

This is to secure the system itself. As the speaker says, since they are connected to he internet access to viruses and suspicious files can't be resisted, thus exposing the system to harm. This problem can be healed with fire wall and an anti-virus software. They update their anti-virus software daily to protect their server.

Security can also mean security from hacker and other. Since it can't be resisted that some of their staffs will have to take some files or print out files from their computers for security reasons the Central Processing Unit or CPU of their staffs respective computers does not contain DVD or CD ROM or even USB ports. When they have to get data or print out data, staffs would have to go to the IS manager because the file they need can only be taken out or printed out from the server unit.

* Recovery plan

This particularly describes their disaster recovery plan when ever an emergency or a disaster comes. These disaster may vary from black out or in case of fire. The officer didn't told us the steps with regards for their disaster recovey plan but he had, showed us the office of the IS manager and point out the papers on the wall, which I can't barely read.

As from what I have heard from the interviewee, keeping track of data is necessary for the company. They find IS very essential to their business thus, it is considered as the backbone of the business, that means without IS or IT their business was long gone and it will never grow from eight people to more or less one hundred(150) fifty staffs. I find the back up of server the very best practice they did. Because I have concluded from their companies profile that they barely rely on the internet to connect with their important and valued customers. It is a good thing that they've come up with the idea to have three(3) internet connection provider. This practice keeps them updated from other branches of the business all over the world and it also enables them to keep the communication between consumers and their company. I got my hands up for their data security, they have foreseen the risk of having networked computers, which is described as sharing of data from one computer to another. Since they have concluded that risk, they have come up with the idea to take out USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports and DVD/CD-ROM on the system units of every running computer on their company. Through this, they can control the data that comes out on their company, through this the IS manager can monitor the flow of data that's coming in and coming out of the company.

That's all for the best practices of our chosen company, Hubport Interactive who have given us the chance to speak with their IT officer. Thank You...^_^

First Day of Class: Reflection and Learnings

My Reflection and Learnings
..bow..
.. ..

G reat and fun! That’s how our first class in MIS has been. It was all smiles and laughers from the moment the class started until it ended. Even when I was already outside the class room, I still can’t stop grinning; I can’t stop thinking how our teacher interpreted his students’ reaction when he gives a bunch of assignments.

Anal. Geom. was my first subject under the supervision of Sir Randy Gamboa then, followed by Stats and now in MIS. I am expecting that I’ll be able to understand MIS as clearly as possible and I hope that learning every single thing about MIS would be a lot of fun than the last two subjects I have gone under Sir Gamboa.

Management Information System or MIS deals with managing/supervising hard ware, soft ware and people ware. It has four basic keys, which are planning, directing, organizing and controlling. Other than these things, I have also learned the differences between managing and supervising. I have learned that managing is actually controlling while supervising is just giving directions and guides.

Blog was required to us by our teacher. So, I was obliged to establish a blog of my own. Then, I realize blogging is fun. Blogging as a way of sharing views, opinions and even experiences does works for me.

Over all, it was a lot of fun, really. The way Sir Gamboa welcomed the transferees was warm, really warm, and warm as they were in a hot seat. Then I have concluded that students in Tagum Campus love to sing. That’s all, I guess…^_^

A subject that I expect to give me jaw-aches, due to constant smiling and laughing; backaches because of being in a sitting position for too long; headache for squeezing out every English word from my vocabulary and maybe even heartache at the end of the semester (..haha..no way..not again !!!..haha)..^_^..

Good Day!!

http://sshanee.blogspot.com/

Managerial Roles and Leadership Roles

Managerial Roles According to Mintzberg (1973)

Managerial Roles involves: interpersonal roles, information processing roles and decision roles. The first activity, interpersonal roles, includes being the figurehead, the liaison and the leader. Second activity is information processing roles, in which the manager acts as monitor, disseminator and spokesman of the ones he/she handle. Finally, decision making, means that he/she has the responsibility to improve/change, handle the disturbance, allocates the resource, and the one who negotiates.

The clear illustration is that, as a senior manager enacts his/her role, these will come together as a generalized, which will reflect to the manager's competencies associated with the roles. In a sense they act as testing criteria for assessing the performance of a manager in his/her job.
Being the figurehead, the manager will have to be good physically and socially. Because the way he builds up inspiration, will inspire the people under his/her leadership and authority. The manager must have connection to its subordinates, so that he could get the trust of his/her subordinates. He/she has the task to tell the structure and environment of the place where subordinates will work, also to oversee and ask question to keep them alert. It is also the manager’s responsibility to discipline and promote its subordinates thus, trying to balance organizational needs for every operation.

Managers are made to become the center of information and communication. Skills regarding networking are huge help in order to maintain external and internal contacts because exchanging of information is important. A computers screen can be related to as the manager, simply because he seeks and receives information so he/she could evaluate performance, well-being and situation of the organization. This is through maintaining information system, by building contacts and training staffs to pass the information.

Managing include skills in spreading people’s views on the organization or the manager’s subordinates. These mass‘s views and opinions is broadcasted only on the organization. They don’t only influences its subordinates but, as well as the people around him/her. He/she needs to report the organizations performances and that would reflect that the manager is really an expert of his/her field.

They design and initiate the most of the controlled change inside the organization. Through this improvement will not be impossible for the company or the organization.
The manager can do all the design responsibility on selecting and even replacing subordinates. Another thing a manager can do is to empower subordinates with responsibility for the design of the improvement of the project thus, defining the limits or parameter and give the go signal.
Disturbances may come from staff, resources, and threats or may be because others had done mistakes or the last option has high risk consequences. The manager’s roles involve stepping in to calm matters and quickly thinking of having the very best solution when problems occur and this should be done in a limited span of time. As for example, think about an alligator behind you. What would be the very first thing you would do so that the alligator won’t count you in as its lunch? Of course, the very first thing you would do is to swim away from the alligator as fast as you can because it won’t be a help on thinking to drain the swamp.

The manager must have the ability to have an exact hypothesis regarding the allocation of all resources, including sale, staff or reputation. Allocation of resources can be described as scheduling own time, programming work and authorizing moves. Keeping an eye on the scheduling, the manager visually or physically sets the priority of the organization. The managerial task is to ensure that a certain work system is in place and to supervise staffs, directions such as what to do, who should do the task, what processing systems will be used.
Enabling huge decisions before implementing is a control on the resource allocation. This allows blending of interventions. An example is approving within a policy or budgeting process in comparison to other interventions. Because of having a short span of time, many issues and other staff’s proposals that cannot be rejected easily, the manager may decide to choose on the proposed rather than a new proposal.

As what from we have discussed above, a good managerial skill usually involves communication skills, a good manager must have good reputation and the way he/she should think must be broad so he could read the minds of the internal and external people. Managers are the ones who take charges over important negotiating activities, in order to have a good contract with other managers of organizations.

Information System Leadership
Leadership came from the root word lead, which literary means to guide or to supervise. Leadership can be stated as an act of influencing others thus, telling them advices and guidelines about what they should or not do. It is never an act of controlling a person. It may sound simple as it is but, being a leader is not a simple task because it needs a bunch of courage to encourage others, and as what from we all know encouraging someone or even making them realize what they’ve done is something we can’t easily do.

Information System Leadership or simply IS Leadership is a difficult task for many organizations because of the increasing dependency on Information System’s. IS is widely used both for the stability of the operation and for the authority of introducing business strategies. Information System Leadership is typical from leadership in general because in IS Leadership, the Chief Information Officer or CIO is likely to combine IS technical skills with a right understanding of the organization over all of its functions ranging from operational to strategic. The leadership that we know is also a combination of the leader’s skills, which generally talks about on how he/she handles his/her followers, and how he/she understands them. Thus, a unique leadership challenge, such as IS Leadership, existed due to the technology or even business interface. The need of having a better system has obliged developers to develop easiest way to lead and the breadth of the IS Leadership role states that IS Leadership should cover a wide range of information concerning the role and characteristics of a CIO, its competition with other top management team, and its reflection and impact to its subordinates and the other staffs of the organization.

References:
http://www.bola.biz/mintzberg/mintzberg2.html
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F17%2F34102%2F01624425.pdf%3Farnumber%3D1624425&authDecision=-203

What is MIS?

To clearly determine Management Information System or MIS, let us first define each word that builds it.

Management
Management, from the word manages or managing is described as the act of handling, controlling and directing. It is typically composed of: planning, directing, organizing and controlling.

* Planning-act of thinking in advance.
* Directing-act of supervising or telling what should be done.
* Organizing-act of logically identify each elements.
* Controlling-act of being responsible for every move.

A student making his/her own routine is an example of managing or management.

The student needs to think of the things he/she should or has to do. That is eating, taking a bath, waking up, going to school and so on. This is where planning is done.

Next, is trying to follow the said schedule. Then, organizing comes, after thinking all the things he/she would do, he/she will put them up then, assign time and a span of time to spend for each actions to do. Logically, actions are should be done as follows, waking up, taking a bath, eating then going to school etc. Arranging the actions and assigning a span of time for each thing to do are considered as organizing.

But, the student can always change his/her schedule. It may be because there is a change of her mind or she just can't follow the schedule he/she had done. Thus, the will and right of changing everything up is called controlling.

Information
The television, the books you read, the radio and the internet are just basic medium of transporting information. The information you have heard of or read can either be fact or not.

Information as described in the dictionary is knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction etc. It is also associated as a factual data. Therefore, information is simply a processed data from the people around us. A data that has been sent or given to us by talking, listening and reading. It is considered information when it reaches our mind and it can only be considered as a fact when it is supported by any other information otherwise, opposed by other information.

System
System can be defined in its simplest way as the flow. Our example above can also be taken as an example of a system. Since management, are composed of systems such as, planning, organizing, directing and controlling. Another example is baking a cake. It has steps, which is followed by another and so on.

Now, that we have clearly understood each word that composes Management Information System or MIS. We can now say that MIS is simply handling the flow of information. Information can be transmitted through talking, reading and listening. The means of the three basic elements that build up MIS, which are soft ware, hard ware and people ware are defined as technology. Information Technology defines hard ware as the computer, soft ware as the programs used to transmit data and people ware are described as programmers and the users.

* Hard wares are those physical systems. It is visible through human's eyes and can also be manipulated by human themselves.
* Soft wares are data that are build up together to show or transport information with the aid of hardware.
* People wares are the ones who manages hardware and the ones who are responsible for building, developing and using soft ware. It is the only element that can't be managed and shouldn't be managed, instead supervised.

MIS refers broadly to a computer-based system that provides managers with the tools for organizing, evaluating and efficiently running their departments. In order to provide past, present and prediction information, an MIS can include software that helps in decision making, data resources such as databases, the hardware resources of a system, decision support systems, people management and project management applications, and any computerized processes that enable the department to run efficiently (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/MIS.html).

In businesses or companies, the department that handles computer systems, is called MIS department, which may mean Management Information Systems or Management Information Services. Some other companies call it IS (Information Service) or IT (Information Technology).

As from what we have learned and cited above, Management Information System or MIS is mainly and efficiently used in businesses and other large companies. It has been a huge help for managers or supervisors, since it is a new technology, it enables them to have a better decision making in less time and energy.

Before MIS had been developed, business computers are only used for computing payrolls and keeping track of receivable and payable accounts. These simple applications have evolved into many informative and helpful programs, especially when it comes to sales inventories and other data to help managing an enterprise large or small.

Today, the term is used broadly in a number of contexts and includes (but is not limited to): decision support systems, resource and people management applications, project management, and database retrieval applications (http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid80_gci214098,00.html).

Summary
Management is composed of planning, organizing, directing and controlling.
Information is data or knowledge we get around us.
System means the flow or process of some things.

Management Information System or MIS is handling the flow or process of transporting data or information. This is through hard ware, soft ware and people ware.

MIS is mainly used by businessman or managers to help in decision making, computing employees payrolls and even retrieving database application to keep track of the employees information or data as well as the customers order.

Conclusion
Hard wares can be managed by people; it can be controlled as well as soft wares. People ware may not be manageable, but they still are a part of the flow of controlling the transfer of data. They are the ones who make and develop programs, which are defined as soft wares. The hard wares are made by people too, which are the users medium to communicate with the soft ware then to the hard ware until it reaches the other users, which are also considered as people wares.

By the definition of management cited on the above entries, management includes not just controlling but also directing, which broadly means supervising or guiding and is not obliging anyone to follow the said direction.

Another thing is the ones who manage soft ware and hard ware is people ware. People ware has the biggest role when it comes to Information System, because as what from we all know, people does the data, people transmit it, people learn it and people had developed so many ways to transport data at the simplest and quickest way and even the cheapest way.

So, I believe that Management Information System is just right to be named as it is. Thus, the subject name fits the subject, which deals with planning, organizing, directing and/or controlling hard ware, soft ware, people ware.

The above statements are base on what I have understood on our supervisors and some details are from sites I have gone through. Just post a comment to correct my mistakes, if there are..^_^.. it is very much appreciated..
Thanks to www.javascriptkit.com for providing word counter for me..^_^

Academic Performance of BSIT-1 Online Gamers and Non-gamers in English

Chapter 1

Introduction

In this present situation, the researchers can never deny the fact that, as level of technology continue to develop; everything around it grows with it. And so, the educational tools, work equipment and all others found remedies through technology as great help by using them more efficiency. Games also, from being just an ordinary one-set game or a video game with the use of joysticks now had evolved into a modernize online games, which links players from across the world together in the same type of game.

The popular term, online, was originally called the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG or MMO). MMOG is capable of supporting hundreds or even thousands of players simultaneously, and is played with the internet. Typically, this type of game is played in a giant persistent world. MMO’s can enable players to be with and/or against each other on a grand scale, and sometimes to interact meaningfully with people around the world. Most MMO’s require players to invest large amounts of their time into the game (http://www.wikipedia.com)

In relation, youth, especially students who are most likely exposed to entertainments, are the ones who were affected worst. They fall to be on the stage of addiction in online games. Research and analysis to these games is nascent, but critical. Games play to such excess that they die in the worlds, which is having the potential to draw almost everybody. Compulsive game playing kills the role-playing variety, they tend to have risk failing grades and withdrawal of financial results from tuition-paying parents.

Thus, online gaming does interfere some aspects in our life- including academic performances (Cyber Psychology & Behavior, Vol. 10, 2007 issue). On school days, keen boy who intend to play online games appear to have less time reading than those who didn’t (Sciencedaily, July 4, 2007).

Opposing to the above statements, an alternative possibility is that game play may be associated with positive features of development, as the games reflect and contribute to participation in a challenging and stimulating voluntary leisure environment. On several measures-including family closeness, activity involvement, positive school engagement, positive mental health, substance use, self-concept, friendship network, and disobedience to parents-game players scored more favorably than did peers who never played computer games. It is concluded that computer games can be a positive feature of healthy adolescence (K. Durkin & B. Barber, 2002).

Researchers in fields as divers of psychology, neurobiology and communication are all trying to know if games really affect the behaviors as well as the academic performances of the gamers, but these people didn’t have the answers yet. So for all concerns can assume is that a student who play too much, in a pattern that is similar to many behavioral addiction, which affects them academically and socially.

In the process of learning, a student may be well-equipped though not exposed on computers and computer games. And being one of the citizens of this country, where education is a very important variable in the acquisition and use of English. Mastery of English is the primarily function of length of schooling and quality education (IJBEB Vol. 5, 2002 issue). Well, obviously, such things will happen if the youth of this country didn’t know how to balance their time, as well as didn’t know that they should put their studies prior to other things, excluding family.

Thus, the study’s concern is the value of each topic presented and discussed in the simplest possible manner to help the reader learn the truth between the academic performance of online gamers and non gamers of BSIT-1 in their English 1 subject.

Review of Related Literature

The researchers were able to gather literatures that are related to the study which gives background to present study.

Computer gaming is an activity that is fought in United States as children and youth spend hours doing such routine. In fact, same victims suffer from addiction; the habit of online gaming was quadrupled when it became integrated with the Internet: resulting the concept of online gaming. In online gaming, user use the Internet in coordination with their personal computers to connect with other players in the world and then play the same game, which makes it more exciting and more time consuming. Thus, every student whom addictively drawn by such computer games will be likely looses their attention on their studies (http://www.wikipedia.com).

But before having a deeper understanding on what computer game does, the researchers and the readers must first be aware where it came from and where it started.

As being discussed by www.wikipedia.com, the first MMOG, and a major milestone in the creation of the genre, was the multiplayer flight combat simulation game Air Warrior, which first appeared in 1987, by Kesmai on Genie online service. They had gained acceptance in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was then pioneered by gem Stone series on Genie, also created by Kesmai, and Never Winter Nights, the first such game include graphics, which debuted an AOL in 1991.

The debuts of The Realm Online, Meridian 59 (the first 3D MMOG), Ultimate Online, Underlight and Ever Quest in the late 1990s popularized the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-palying Game (MMORPG) genre. The growth in technology meant that Never Winter Nights in 1991 had been limited to 50 simultaneous players (a number that grew to 500 by 1995), by the year 2000, a multitude of MMORPGs were each serving thousands of simultaneous players and in December 2007 EVE Online achieved new record with 41, 690. Retrieved on January 8, 2008, concurrent accounts logged on to the same server (http://www.wikipedia.com).

The popularity of MMORGs were mostly restricted to the computer game market until sixth-generation consoles, with the launch of Phantasy Star Online on Dreamcast and the emergence and growth of online service Xbox Live. There have been a number of console MMOGs, including Ever Quest Online Adventures (Play Station 2), and the multiconsole Final Fantasy XI. On personal computers the MMOG market has alway been dominated by successful fantasy MMORPGs (http://www.wikipedia.com).

MMOGs have only recently begun to break into the mobile phone market, beginning with Clip Soft’s TibiaME, which is the first MMORPG to arrive on a mobile device. Smart Cell Technology is in development of Shadow of Legend, which will allow gamers to continue their game on their mobile device when away from personal computer (http://www.wikipedia.com).

World of Warcraft is currently the dominant MMOG in America, and with 10 million monthly subscribers worldwide, is the most popular Western title among MMOGs. The biggest MMOG in the world is Lineage 2 from South Korea, with over 14 milllion registered gamers, mostly in various Asian countries (http://www.wikipedia.com).

Cited above as years went by, and developers continue developing games, that will probably tempt everyone to switch on a new routine that includes online computer gaming. In addition, it does bring huge impact, which may result negatively to the studies of the students for the reason that they tend to give less time studying (Sciencedaily, 2007).

Theory Base

D.B. Weiss
If anyone has doubts that video games warrant serious reflection and examination as a creative medium, The Video Game Theory Reader will dispel them. If anyone involved in the creation of video games is looking for fresh perspectives on their art, they'll find them right here (http://www.wikipedia.com/Lucky-Wander-Boy-D-B-Weis/dp).

Eric Zimmerman
Computer and video games have been with us for only a few short decades. As with any young medium, important questions remain unanswered: What exactly are video games and how do they function? How do video games relate to other forms of media and culture? What is their effect on the minds and lives of players? And what are the larger implications for society? The Video Game Theory Reader begins to answer these questions, and in doing so, sketches out an exciting, emerging field of vital importance for the future of design, technology, and culture (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Zimmerman).

Robert T. Wood
The Video Game Theory Reader is a crucial and timely edited volume which focuses exclusively on the theorization of video games, and thereby makes great strides towards ameliorating a persisting gap in the academic literature (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-T-Wood).

Laurie Taylor
The Video Game Theory Reader serves as an excellent introduction to video game studies, the current positions in the field, and the current problems with video game studies (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaurieTaylor).

Conceptual Framework

Shown above is the schematic diagram in determining the effect of online gaming and not indulging these games to student’s academic performance in English 1. The independent variables are the Online Gamers and Non-gamers and the dependent variable is the Academic performance.

Significance of the Study

This research will be done in order for the concerned people to know whether online games really affect the studies of the students who intend to play. If it does, how huge would be the impact of playing online computer games on the academic performances of the gamers, specifically on their English 1 subject. We choose to find out the effect of online games by looking on the grades of the online gamers and non-gamers to prevent parents from being numb, when their advices are needed and to prevent the students as well as the researcher’s parents from worrying when there’s really nothing to worry. This research will leave learning about the truth of the impact of the playing online games prior to studies. We’ve conducted this study, so students like us would be able to know and to warn themselves about the consequences when student’s try doing new things, that when not controlled and handled well will soon became the student’s vises, which will then become the student’s greatest enemy, but student’s can’t just throw away because it is already the student’s best friend.

Statement of the Problem

The studies concern is to determine the negative or positive impact of engaging online games to BSIT-1 student’s academic performance particularly English 1 subject.

1. What are the average grades of all the online gamers and non gamers?
2. Is there a significant difference between the average scores of online gamers and non gamers?
3. What is the rate of their academic performance?

Authors:

Pulido, John Paul
Sacramento, Shane
Sanchez, Jonalyn