Monday, December 2, 2013

IST/723 DEPARTMENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

This class was an interesting one (but a little boring for me) because there was more of a discussion between how management affects technology and vice versa.  The only part that I found interesting was about social engineering, and my focus was way out of context of the class.  Either way, I think I did pretty well considering.

IST/723 DEPARTMENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Start Date: 10/01/2013

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will continue the analysis of the application of the domains used by individuals and teams studied in IST721 and IST722. The learner will evaluate the application of the program domains to departmental operations and strategy. The learner will research and evaluate information systems support techniques, both internal and external to the departmental interfaces.
Course Competencies
  • Analyze how knowledge workers function with the use of technology at the department level in a global environment.
  • Plan methods of support, communication, and selections of tools to advance department operations and performance.
  • Evaluate the applications of domains into systems development as appropriate to department operations and performance.
  • Determine the influence of current information technology issues and policies on departmental information systems.
  • Evaluate the alignment among departmental information systems, as related to organizational goals and objectives, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

WEEK 1 - TOPIC 1: READING WEEK

Materials

Assessment

  • Please refer to your syllabus for assignment information.

WEEK 2 - TOPIC 1: READING WEEK

Materials

  • Refer to Week One materials for reading assignments.

Assessment

  • Please refer to your syllabus for assignment information.

WEEK 3 - TOPIC 1: ANALYSIS AND DEFINITION OF ISSUES

Materials

  • All course texts are available in Week One of the course materials page.
  • READING: Luftman (2004) – Review Ch. 2
  • READING: McNurlin (2008) – Review Ch. 2–4
  • READING: Schiesser (2010) – Review Ch. 1–3
  • ARTICLE: Electronic Reserve Readings

Assessment

  • Conflict as a Team Tool?
    Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper that analyzes what level of task independence is acceptable between teams and the impact of interteam conflict on departmental performance. The analysis must be supported by relevant literature. Support your paper with at least two examples from an organization you are familiar with.
    Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines

WEEK 4 - TOPIC 1: NETWORKING AT THE DEPARTMENTAL LEVEL

Materials

Assessment

  • Please refer to your syllabus for assignment information.

WEEK 5 - TOPIC 1: DATA RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Materials

Assessment

  • Please refer to your syllabus for assignment information.

WEEK 6 - TOPIC 1: WORK ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND PARTNERING

Materials

Assessment

  • Please refer to your syllabus for assignment information.

WEEK 7 - TOPIC 1: AUTOMATING AND EVALUATING PROCESSES

Materials

Assessment

  • Please refer to your syllabus for assignment information.

WEEK 8 - TOPIC 1: SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

Materials

  • All course texts are available in Week One of the course materials page.
  • READING: Laudon (2008) – Review Ch. 13
  • READING: Luftman (2004) – Review Ch. 13
  • READING: Schiesser (2010) – Review Ch. 21
  • READING: McKeen (2009) – Review Ch. 18–19
  • ARTICLE: Electronic Reserve Readings

Assessment

  • Please refer to your syllabus for assignment information.

Weeks 1 and 2 are reading weeks.

Thread for Week 3 -- DQ 1

When is performance in teams superior or inferior to individual performance?

My response
When is performance in teams superior or inferior to individual performance?
Team performance can enhance the skills of the worker. Social and job function skills can be enhanced with the exposure to team involvement. Organizations can also benefit from team involvement and collaboration (Luftman, 2004). The teams can additionally develop processes and procedures that an individual may not have thought about doing before. New product and project developments can appear with the innovative solutions that teams might be able to create.

In my current job, the organization depends on my team to create innovative solutions to help enhance processes and the organization. Although our team appears as such a small part of process, everyone relies on our knowledge and help for new technology and solutions to current and possible future problems. For example, one of the responsibilities in my team is to find solutions on how to integrate certain devices, such as an XBOX 360, with the organization’s technology. This knowledge requires individuals who are familiar with the organization’s technology, the XBOX 360’s technology, and other technologies used to integrate each resource. Each team member specializes in one of these areas. The team can know each area, but several ideas and solutions are far more helpful than one person’s perspective.

Reference
Luftman, J. N. (2004). Managing the information technology resource: Leadership in the information age. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Thread for Week 3 -- DQ 2

What are the determinants of autonomy in departmental teams? How do those determinants affect departmental teams’ success at implementing needed systems?

My response
What are the determinants of autonomy in departmental teams? 
The autonomy of a departmental team depends on the structure or culture of an organization (Luftman, 2004). Flexibility may rarely be given in an organization to allow departmental teams to work on their own projects or enhancements because each team is meant to complete a specific function. Therefore it may be difficult or rare to find an organization that allows any independence for a team.

How do those determinants affect departmental teams’ success at implementing needed systems?
These determinants affect a departmental team’s growth and evolution of skill sets in an organization, especially in a technical environment. Forming a strategy to promote innovations means that the organization will need to advocate this type of organizational culture (Luftman, 2004). So if the CEO wants to create innovative strategies in the organization, the departmental teams may need to have time and a focus on these types of solutions. 

One of the issues in my job is that there is room for improvements and everyone has ideas to create something better, but there is a lack of resources and time management. We actually have to create a ticket system for all the ideas that everyone seems to have for enhancements or even new solutions. The problem is also lack of funding. While the business is steadily growing, the employees are constantly busy. It gets frustrating to have so many great ideas but no time to work on them.

Reference
Luftman, J. N. (2004). Managing the information technology resource: Leadership in the information age. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Thread for Week 3 Reflection

My response
In this week, I have learned many interesting perspectives. I have learned important aspects of team performance. Team performance can provide innovative solutions and ideas, but can also be a double-edged sword if there is competition in the workplace. I have also learned that many of my classmates have different perspectives because many of us come from different professional backgrounds. I also learned that there are many differences in departmental teams and the elements that determine the state of decision-making and autonomy. The success of a team is reliant not only on each other but the individual independence of the team members as well.


Thread for Week 4 -- DQ 1

Please discuss your thoughts on the manner in which increased diversity has impacted departmental teams and overall team funcitonality in organizations..

My response
Please discuss your thoughts on the manner in which increased diversity has impacted departmental teams and overall team functionality in organizations.
I believe that the more diverse a team is, the more they will be learning new ideas and perspectives. Because there is a diversity of skill sets, each team member has something unique to offer to the team. According to Schiesser (2010), an important perspective for team members of an organization is to analyze the diversity of skill sets. This provides an idea of the skill level and expertise of each team member. Although there are many benefits of a diverse team, there are also disadvantages. One such disadvantage in a team environment is that each team member may have different schedules, members that won’t show up, or communication difficulties/language barriers (Schiesser, 2010). Having an understanding of team member responsibilities upfront can help to provide a clear outline and role. In my experience, many of my team members are willing to learn. However, there are also times when they are out sick or they feel the need to not come because they already have an idea of what they should do in the project. For the most part, organizing a team can be challenging but also rewarding.

Reference
Schiesser, R. (2010). IT systems management (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Thread for Week 4 -- DQ 2

Please discuss your thoughts on the “P-dimensions” (People, politics and politicking, productivity, power, policy, performance, prioritization, process, practice) in terms of teams.
Start with only the first three items please and then as the week progresses you can post your thoughts on additional items. That way the discussion can be more focused.

My response
Please discuss your thoughts on the P-dimensions (People, politics and politicking, productivity, power, policy, performance, prioritization, process, practice) in terms of teams.
Start with only the first three items please and then as the week progresses you can post your thoughts on additional items. That way the discussion can be more focused.
People
People or team members offer new perspectives and dimensions to an organization. People introduce new ideas through collaborating. Communication in a team also helps to create social development. Evaluation of processes and feedback from peers often leads to the creation of new solutions.

Politics
Politics in an organization often arise when there are disagreements or differences in opinions. This can be a positive or negative experience in an organization. Some positive outcomes may include competition within the workplace or between employees. An example of a negative experience may be promoting undesirable information about another employee. The political system in an organization can affect many people and can be very challenging to resolve (Schiesser, 2010). 

Politicking
Politicking is a way of approving of politics in an organization and influencing others in that behavior. Although challenges arise with politicking, it may also influence others to pursue a more thought-provoking workplace and competition. This method may not be for everyone, and so there are many difficulties in persuading staff toward politicking ideals.

Reference
Schiesser, R. (2010). IT systems management (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Thread for Week 4 Reflection

My response
In this week I have learned about many different perspectives on the definition of people, politics, and politicking. Although I thought it was he same for everyone, there are definitely varying translations between the terms. I like to think that mine are correct most of the time, but I can understand if I made a mistake (just kidding).

I have also learned about the different types of ideas on diversity. Diversity has a spectrum of terms associated with it, such as race, gender, and generational differences. These concepts offer chances to broaden our learning experiences. I also appreciate everyone’s different viewpoints and experiences with diversity as well.

The essay was challenging for me to write. I believe that some of the concepts behind departmental levels and enterprise informational systems are still new to me. Although I have been in IT for a long time, I believe I am still lacking in understanding of the business side of things. Although I am still learning, I am glad for the exposure to these terms.


Thread for Week 5 -- DQ 1

There are a number of techniques used to try and gain access to ourdepartmental and corporate systems. One of those is Social Engineering. How canmethods be improved to minimize the impact and effectiveness of SocialEngineering?

My response
There are a number of techniques used to try and gain access to our departmental and corporate systems. One of those is Social Engineering. How can methods be improved to minimize the impact and effectiveness of Social Engineering?
Social Engineering is similar to hacking in that the individual is trying to gain access to information that he/she is not authorized to. The first time I heard of this term was when I was a child. There was news about a young man named Kevin Mitnick who went to prison at such as young age (he was only 16) because he was a hacker/social engineer. The courts initially gave him 4 years of prison and then later gave him 6 more years for social engineering/hacking. After learning his lesson, when he was finally released from prison and he became a computer security consultant. The main idea that he mentions to social engineering is ensuring organizations understand there is no one solution that fits every scenario. There needs to be a variation of solutions to help minimize social engineering. For example, a security guard helps to prevent unauthorized users from entering a building, but the security guard is only human and can be tricked. Informing employees in an organization of security policies and then enforcing departmental security policies is a solution to help minimize social engineering. These security policies need to be enforced over the phone as well as in person.

Reference
Mitnick Security Consulting (2013). Mitnick Security Consulting LLC. Retrieved from http://mitnicksecurity.com/

Thread for Week 5 -- DQ 2

Please do some independent research. Select an article relevant to the coursematerials and share a brief summary and your thoughts on the article with theclass.

My response
Please do some independent research. Select an article relevant to the course materials and share a brief summary and your thoughts on the article with the class.
Wahler (2013) discusses how to communicate with leaders in today’s technical society. This article interests me because I feel that my understanding of how to become a successful leader has a generational difference. I was raised to believe that if someone worked hard, he/she could be promoted and eventually become one of the top executives in an organization. In many organizations, this idea is true. However, in many of the organizations I have worked in, this idea is not so true. Many of my peers believe I am a very good leader and that I should reach for the upper-management role, but just as this author discusses in her article, body language, style of communication, and the intricacies of forming business relationships can be more complex than just working hard (Wahler, 2013). In today’s society, many leaders look outside of his/her work environments toward social networks for ideas, innovations, and non-verbal communication styles. The same thing occurs in our younger generation with video games and mobile devices. So the question this author attempts to answer is how to address and recognize a leadership role in the digital age with upper-management or administration in an organization.

Reference
Wahler (2013). Viral leadership branding -- Inject a positive perception.  Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2013/11/01/viral-leadership-branding-inject-a-positive-perception/#!

Thread for Week 5 Reflection

My response
In this week, I thoroughly enjoyed the discussions around social engineering and being able to select an article pertaining to the course. I have always had an interest in hacking and social engineering ever since I was a kid. I never was able to get into it because it was frowned upon at the time. Now with Hackathon’s and security consultants, social engineering/hacking is promoted to learn about computer vulnerabilities to increase the protection of an organization. I also liked selecting an article that I believe is related to the course. It helps to look at current events of what is going on outside of the classroom from time to time to get an understanding of what is happening in real life. Theory needs to accompany real time ideas, and sometimes I feel like there is a disconnect in some classes, and so this was an interesting perspective to take. Our essay was interesting as well in that it made me think about the ways to structure the architecture for a security environment in an organization.


Thread for Week 6 -- DQ 1

Consider the following statement:
Enterprise system applications/standards/concepts at the departmental levelshould sometimes differ from the applications/standareds/concepts at theorganization level.
 
Do you agree or disagree? Explain youranswer.

My response
Consider the following statement:
Enterprise system applications/standards/concepts at the departmental level should sometimes differ from the applications/standards/concepts at the organization level.

Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.


The concepts in an enterprise system application/standards/concepts should sometimes differ from those at the organizational level. I agree with this perspective for several reasons through my own work experiences. In my current job, we have technical standards to apply to certain technologies. At an organizational level, these concepts are not fully understood. Therefore, the concepts are scaled down to minor ideas and are not executed properly. For example, my department has a mobile integration that requires special filtration rules with our product and the client’s product. The organization is only concerned about getting the money from the client, and so the details are scaled down and the filtration rules get ignored. Consequently, this leads to discrepancies in the data and reports, and then client relationships are lost or hindered. According to Luftman (2004), IT affects relationships between clients and the organization. I believe this concept is far too often ignored because the organization’s I have worked with may believe our goal is to have a function and not a business perspective and that is a difficult perspective to change. Hence the organization should not have the same concepts and should allow the department to handle the business process so that the information does not get scaled down and misconstrued.


Reference

Luftman, J. N. (2004). Managing the information technology resource: Leadership in the information age. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Thread for Week 6 -- DQ 2

What factors would you consider to forecast the value of a new networkedsystem within the department for a 2-year budget?
 
What would be the costs associated with the value? I
 
f the cost was higher than the value, how would you justify it to the leadership team who proposed the networkedsystem?

My response
What factors would you consider to forecast the value of a new networked system within the department for a 2-year budget?

What would be the costs associated with the value? If the cost was higher than the value, how would you justify it to the leadership team who proposed the networked system?



The factors depend on the organization. The first factor to understand is the organization’s needs and to plan for it (Luftman, 2004). An organization probably won’t make a large purchase without a reason that allows a competitive advantage in the industry. Therefore, forming a plan is the first factor in forecasting the value of the system.

IT also needs to have a strategic understanding of how to utilize the new system (Luftman, 2004). IT needs to make a defense that aligns with organizational goals. The organization will demand reasons from IT to put in a new system and will look for organizational goals in that reasoning. Thus, ensuring the IT goals are the same or similar with organizational goals is a factor to consider.

Organizational feedback is necessary to understand what the organization is looking to accomplish as well. This factor is important to consider when convincing an organization to adapt to a new technology. One suggestion when convincing the organization of a technology is to make the organization or manager/executive think that they are the ones that came up with the idea in the first place. Grabbing the feedback with this perspective helps to influence the idea into fruition. 

The value of the product needs to also align with the budget. Many organizations will pass on technology that is too expensive. However, if the organization needs a new networked system and the cost is higher than the value, an analysis will need to be made to see if the costs will balance in the long run. In other words, if the organization purchases a new networked system, such as Cisco, and the purchase is only a little bit over budget, in the long term, the system may pay off. Cisco is a well-known organization and can offer solutions to meet the organization’s future needs. Therefore, enabling this type of system may pay for itself in the 2-year span.


Reference
Luftman, J. N. (2004). Managing the information technology resource: Leadership in the information age. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Thread for Week 6 Reflection

My response
In this week, there were many thought-provoking concerns about how organizations may or may not handle certain scenarios. Organizations handle things differently depending on the situation. I see that the general consensus in class is that the concepts for adapting to an enterprise system/standard/concept are something that needs to be thought out and I agree. Every organization has different needs and it is best not to assume that there is an “all-in-one” type of resolution. Forecasting is a difficult process as well. There needs to be an adequate understanding of the organization and its goal for this to happen. Making any decisions should involve requirement gathering, but often does not because the decisions sometimes need to be made quickly. However, I believe that these discussions have been insightful and challenging. I particularly enjoyed the team assignment where we attempt to find a solution in the virtual environment to automate a process.


Thread for Week 7 -- DQ 1

Are there any benefits to maintaining manual processes at the departmentallevel?

My response
Are there any benefits to maintaining manual processes at the departmental level?
Manual processes are just as important as automated processes. In my current job, much of the data is automated for efficiency; however there are times when manual processes are needed. One process is verification. Verification, such as password entry, can be automatically saved into a system, but this method is not secure if someone unauthorized gains access. So when users have to manually enter the username and password, this process makes matters more secure. Another example is data processing. Another process that is usually associated with accounting is when payments are made and a paper and electronic documentation is created. This is a form of a backup so that if the electronic or paper media is lost, stolen, or destroyed, there will be a backup. So manual processes are dependent on the needs of each department and they are important depending on the environment. According to Schiesser (2010), if the data changes, then a manual process can be a manual process, but if there are no changes, then an automated system should be created and set up.

Reference
Schiesser, R. (2010). IT systems management (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Thread for Week 7 -- DQ 2

Can departmental data intrusion be entirely prevented? Why or whynot?

My response
Can departmental data intrusion be entirely prevented? Why or why not?
Data intrusion cannot be entirely prevented. There are ways to help prevent data intrusion, but because there are so many people accessing it from a departmental level, there is very little that can be done. In my organization, we have a few compliance standards. Only managers can be administration of data and if a person leaves or is let go from the organization, the access to the data is denied or deleted. However, because managers have administrator-level access, the managers may know of different ways to get into the system. The same thing might occur if a developer wanted to try to get into the system. Since systems are manmade things, there is bound to be a backdoor or hole into the system. Another way to prevent intrusion is by using detection or prevention programs, such as firewalls and intrusion detection programs (Schiesser, 2010). 

Reference
Schiesser, R. (2010). IT systems management (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Thread for Week 7 Reflection

My response
In this week, we learned many perspectives on managing different types of processes. The focus of those processes is to decide which process is best and to think about how to maintain a manual or automatic process. I agree with many of my peers on the automation of processes, how automation can be innovative or dangerous, depending on the field one is in. In IT, there is little need for manual processes. Scripts can be created to handle many of the processes. However, organizations may not be able to afford the costs of automating a process. The development time, requirements gathering, testing, and other factors of automating a process is costly. Creating the flowchart for our individual assignment was also a challenge because it did make me think about the automated approach to take. I do not often have to create a flowchart so that was a bit of a pain to create. However, I did like the outcome and hope that it was satisfactory.


Thread for Week 8 -- DQ 1

When a department takes on automating processes as an objective, what aresome conditions for minimizing failure?

My response
When a department takes on automating processes as an objective, what are some conditions for minimizing failure?
When automating a process, there should be a quality assurance (QA) phase to help minimize failure. In my organization, the QA phase is one of the most important phases and concentrates on manual and automatic testing processes. The QA department makes sure that everything is running correctly and checks for bugs. This phase takes the extra step to minimize failure in the automatic process. The QA department reports to the Project Manager and organizes the tickets received for development. This process helps to keep the developers out of testing software they are developing so that they can concentrate on the requirements. QA also cannot fix or develop the problems or bugs that they encounter so that they can test the product thoroughly. This idea also is in line with compliance standards set by the Media Rating Counsel (n.d.), which my organization abides by.

References

Media Rating Council. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://mediaratingcouncil.org/

Thread for Week 8 -- DQ 2

 
Please select a peer-reviewedjournal and from it select a research article that addresses at least one of themajor topics of this course.
 
Read the Recommendations andConclusions section of the article.  Write a brief description of the relationship between the study's Problem Statement and the Recommendations andConclusions.
 
This type of analysis will be ofvalue to you as you work on your dissertation andresearch

My response
Please select a peer-reviewed journal and from it select a research article that addresses at least one of the major topics of this course.
Read the Recommendations and Conclusions section of the article. Write a brief description of the relationship between the study's Problem Statement and the Recommendations and Conclusions.
This type of analysis will be of value to you as you work on your dissertation and research.

The problem statement of the article discusses how social engineering can occur online as well as offline. The sample website is Facebook. Users occasionally accept friend requests without acknowledging who the person is. When this occurs, the user is allowing someone they may not know to view personal profile information through the Facebook account. Additionally, users typically do not change their default settings on Facebook. Privacy settings on Facebook do not prevent most of the user’s information to be viewed, which can be a problem for users if they are allowing others to be on their friend’s list. The recommendations and conclusions are related to the problem statement. The recommended solutions suggest that users be aware of these types of threats through an understanding of security and risks involved with their accounts. Facebook should make these issues better known to their users through web-based training or tutorials. Even if one user watches the video, that user can spread the word to their friends on Facebook.

Reference
Gulenko, I. (2013). Social against social engineering: Concept and development of a Facebook application to raise security and risk awareness, Information Management & Computer Security, 21(2), pp. 91 - 101

Thread for Week 8 Reflection

My response
This course has been very interesting and a learning experience. I have learned many things, from security in an organization to automated processes and planning. I have learned from other classmate’s perspectives. I believe that there is still much to learn but this course has made a dent in my knowledgebase. There were many things that I did not know until this class, such as P-dimensions, and how these dimensions can affect an organization. And I definitely appreciate all the student and teacher feedback from the class. It has helped me to learn and grow in the subject and in my work environment.


Alexandria Velez

IST/723 - DMAB19NNH3

Grades through Week 8
Cumulative Score:
94/100 (94%)


Grade : A-


Possible Score Your Score
Week 8
Weekly Reflection 1.0 1.0
Comment: Full credit for the Week 8 Reflection
Discussion Questions/Participation 3.0 3.0
Comment: Full credit for the Week 8 Discussion
Leading the Transition 17.0 17.0
Comment: Week 8 Assignment

Write a 1,400- to 2,100-word paper using the automated process developed in Week
 Seven to prioritize the P dimensionspeople, politics and politicking,
 productivity, power, policy, performance, prioritization, process, and
 practiceas they are affected from most to least in the transition from the old
 process to the new process. Justify your prioritizations. Points
 Possible Points Earned
All 7 dimensions discussed and prioritized 7 7
Prioritizations properly justified 7 7
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines and style criteria including
 writing/grammar. 3 3
Total 17 17
Overall a very good job on the P- dimensions/paper this week. Please see
 comments in the returned paper regarding APA.
Week 8 Subtotal : 21 21
Cumulative Week 8 Subtotal : 100 94
Week 8 Feedback:
Week 7
Weekly Reflection 1.0 1.0
Comment: Full credit for the weekly Reflection
Discussion Questions/Participation 3.0 3.0
Comment: Full credit for the weekly Discussion
Automated Processes 9.0 8.5
Comment: Week 7 Assignment

This is a retry with the returned paper attached.

Determine a best automated process for your Virtual Organization department
 based on the Learning Team discussion in Week Six. Points Possible Points
 Earned
Create a flowchart to present the process. 4 4
Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper that presents the flowchart and discusses how
 the process will improve the performance of the department and how the process
 will be evaluated. 4 4
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines and style criteria including
 writing/grammar. 1 0.5
Total 9 8.5
Overall a good job on the flowcahrt/paper this week.
A nubmer of writing issues as noted.
Week 7 Subtotal : 13 12.5
Cumulative Week 7 Subtotal : 79 73
Week 7 Feedback:
Week 6
Weekly Reflection 1.0 1.0
Comment: Full credit for the weekly Reflection
Discussion Questions/Participation 3.0 3.0
Comment: Full credit for the weekly Discussion
Automation Processes Discussion 10.0 8.5
Comment: The assignment stated that you were to submit a bulleted list not a full
 discussion with a few numbered items. You need to follow what the assignment
 states. A few brief annotations/comments for the bulleted items was logically
 needed but you folks essentially turned it into a multi-page paper which was
 not appropriate.
Week 6 Subtotal : 14 12.5
Cumulative Week 6 Subtotal : 66 60.5
Week 6 Feedback:
Week 5
Weekly Reflection 1.0 1.0
Comment: Full credit for the Weekly Reflection.
Discussion Questions/Participation 3.0 3.0
Comment: Full credit for the Weekly Discussion.
Data Security Policy 12.0 11.5
Comment: Week 5 Assignment

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you review your departments data
 security policy and recommend improvements. You may use the department where
 you work or another department you are familiar with. The review must include
 the following: Points Possible Points Earned
Paper is of correct length 1 1
A risk analysis that identifies data security risks based on current data
 security policy and departmental operation 3 3
A recovery plan that describes situations when a data recovery is needed and
 actions to be taken to recover data 3 3
The effect of the risk analysis and recovery plan on the department information
 management 3 3
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines, inclduign
 writing/grammar 2 1.5
Total 12 11.5
Overall a very good job on the paper, a few writing/APA issues as noted.
Week 5 Subtotal : 16 15.5
Cumulative Week 5 Subtotal : 52 48
Week 5 Feedback:
Week 4
Weekly Reflection 1.0 1.0
Comment: Full credit for the Weekly Reflection
Discussion Questions/Participation 3.0 3.0
Comment: Full credit for the Weekly Discussion
Policy, Team, and Information Technology Differenc 15.0 12.0
Comment: Week 4 Assignment
Information systems in departmental levels and information systems in the
 enterprise levels are often implemented toward different visions, values, and
 objectives.   Possible Earned
Select an organization you are familiar with.
Write a 1,400- to 1,750 word paper in which you address the following: 
 Examine the policy, team and information technology differences between
 departmental and enterprise information systems (IS) groups in the
 organization. 4 3
 Discuss approaches to resolving issues that arise from these differences using
 department communication networks. 4 3
Analysis is supported by relevant literature as required 3 3
Paper is of required length per assignment 2 2
Writing, grammar and APA Format  2 1
Total 15 12
Please see comments in the returned paper
Week 4 Subtotal : 19 16
Cumulative Week 4 Subtotal : 36 32.5
Week 4 Feedback:
Week 3
Weekly Reflection 1.0 1.0
Comment: Full credit for the Weekly Reflection.
Discussion Questions/Participation 3.0 3.0
Comment: Full credit for the Week 3 Discussion.
Conflict as a Team Tool? 12.0 11.5
Comment: Week 3 Assignment
Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper that analyzes what level of task independence
 is acceptable between teams and the impact of interteam conflict on
 departmental performance. The analysis must be supported by relevant
 literature. Support your paper with at least two examples from an organization
 you are familiar with. Possible Earned
Analysis addresses assignment criteria directly and clearly in an original
 manner. 5 5
Analysis is supported by relevant literature as required 3 3
Paper is of required length per assignment 2 2
Writing, grammar and APA Format  2 1.5
Total 12 11.5
Overall a good job on the first paper with some nice research to support your
 thoughts. A few minor APA issues as noted.
Week 3 Subtotal : 16 15.5
Cumulative Week 3 Subtotal : 17 16.5
Week 3 Feedback:
Week 2
Weekly Reflection 1.0 1.0
Comment: Full credit for the reflection posting.
Week 2 Subtotal : 1 1
Cumulative Week 2 Subtotal : 1 1
Week 2 Feedback:
Week 1
Weekly Reflection 1.0 1.0
Comment: Full credit for the reflection posting.
Week 1 Subtotal : $totalPublishedMaxPointsMap.get($week) $totalPublishedPointsMap.get($week)
Cumulative Week 1 Subtotal :
Week 1 Feedback: