Information systems management in practice

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Table of Contents

DQ1 Security
DQ2 Value of Data
DQ3 Doctoral DNA
Marine Corps Recruiting Information System Department’s Data Security
Data Recovery Plan
The Effect of the Risk Analysis and Recovery Plan on the Information System
Conclusion
References

DQ1 Security

What information model would you choose for evaluating data security policies at the department level? Why? How would that information model be used?

The information model incorporates all departmental data within the organization. Every department has its own data processing technologies, which it uses to conduct analysis. For instance, the finance department has financial data, the marketing department has data on the consumer trends and sales have data on the demand and supply of the product (McKeen, & Smith 2009).

The role of Data Resource Management model is to network data by providing a central point where data is controlled and regulated such that unauthorized persons cannot access it. The information model must meet the following criteria to be incorporated at the departmental level.

The first one is that the data resources management model must have back up strategies or security measures to ensure that data cannot be lost even when the machines are not in good condition.

The Backup may involve having remote computer storage of data. The second criterion is that the Data resource management system must be firewalled to protect the computer systems from malicious software attacks and other encrypted messages. The data resource should be easy to use, which can be done by training the employees working in the data resource management on how to use the system (Alter, 2011).

For the departments to succeed in Data Resource Management in an organization, the data resource system must be implemented in three levels. The first level is the strategic level, which involves aligning the data management system with the business strategic goals.

This means that if the business plans to be global, the data resource manager must plan how to secure and process the data. The business strategic plan is important when formulating and designing the information technology architecture and processes to be used in the organization. However, the Data Resource Management system may fail to satisfy the increased demand in future.

The second level of evaluating the security as well as the capability of the data resource management is the tactical level (Luftman, 2012). This level involves planning the enterprise resource software to use in data resource management. There is creation of networking infrastructure to connect various departments with in order to create a central data location. The third level of evaluation and implementing data resource system is the where the plans and the decisions made are implemented (McKeen & Smith, 2009).

DQ2 Value of Data

How is the value of information or data assessed at the department level? Does that differ at other levels?

The value of information or data in the departmental levels is assessed differently at the departmental level in comparison to the organizational level. The first reason of assessing this information differently is that it must be relevant to the functions of the department. Information that does not relate to the department directly is irrelevant. This differs from the evaluation of information at the organizational level.

At the organizational level, all information concerning the organization is of value as it depicts various aspects of the organization. The management needs this information to make decisions.

The decisions made by the management must have basis of selective information, that is, information from all departments such as finance, marketing sales, purchasing, and management information systems. The data is therefore valuable to the organization if it relates to the organization and valuable to the department if it relates to the department (Stanford, 2010).

At the departmental level, the data assessment is in a number of ways. The first way of assessing the data is by ascertaining the origin of the information. For the information to be considered critical at the departmental level, it must have its origin from within the department. For instance, the information in the finance Data Resource System will have the information about the financial reports of the company generated by the finance department. This information will certainly be crucial to the finance department (Sprague, 2009).

Apart from the information generated internally the other assessment criteria regards evaluating information related to the department but generated by other departments. For instance, the finance department may need the sales records from the sales department in order to calculate the profits as well as the cash flow of the organization. Such information is of value to the department although not generated by the department.

The other criteria that assign value to information are the information released by the management. For instance, the management may release memos or other instructional policies to the department. Such kind of information is crucial to the department although not generated by the department (Kroenke, 2012).

DQ3 Doctoral DNA

Theories, models or frameworks that support the topic and the role they play in your research, and how might you find them?

Part one

The following are the relevant theories that relate to the use of information. The first relevant theory is the coding theory, which involves encoding information to create a code. This theory is the based on the premise that to transmit information from one location to another one needs to create codes or secretive information typos that prevents the information from being read or used by unauthorized persons. The codes differ depending on the coding methodology (Fazlollah, 2010).

Part two

There are two types of coding. The first one is the lossless data compression where the compressed data is not lost. The other is the loss data compression whereby the information is coded into bits, which is the universal data language and then transmitted to the networks.

Once it gets to the destination, the recipient can encode the data and use it. The other theory is the channel capacity theorem that emphasizes on coding information as it goes through the transmission channel such that the noise within the channel will have little or no impact on the information transmitted over the channels (Fazlollah, 2010).

These theories play a vital role as the research may focus on whether they apply in the data resource management. The research seeks to identify the theory or models that data resource managers use to encrypt information through the networks when sharing data. One may also establish whether these methods have been effective in protecting the information from being accessed by unauthorized persons. The research identifies the challenges faced in implementing the data resource system based on the excellence of the company (Stanford, 2010).

These two theories are imperative in assessing and implementing data management strategies because they determine the method to be used when encrypting or coding data. It is also necessary in formulating the necessary data in the organization to create a good system that will help the company receive and disseminate data between the departments. The methods used in encrypting and protecting data determine whether unauthorized persons may access it.

Marine Corps Recruiting Information System Department’s Data Security

The following discussion is about Marine Corps Recruiting Information System department’s data security policy. It examines the risks and threats related to the policy in the organization. It also looks into the data recovery plan of the organization in cases of lost data. It provides information on how the risk analysis and data recovery plan affects the information technology department and what may need improvement in future to deal with threats and challenges

The Marine Corps recruiting information system department deals with the recruitment of the Marine Corps into the Marine Corps services in the United States of America. The department is critical as it has information about the recruitment of the Marine Corps staff working throughout the country. The department processes online applications about development in the country (Clemons, 2012).

This means that the department is susceptible to malware in the company. The malware are computer viruses that destroy computer programs. The computers of this department are also susceptible to the spyware especially because they deal with issues of defense. The spyware software monitors the use of computers in the department of defense. They are dangerous as they can expose vital information regarding the security issues.

The malware may acquire passwords details enabling hackers to access the system and distort facts and information about recruitment (Schiesser, 2010). The spyware may also expose vital information about the staff working in the marine department to the terrorists and people with malicious intentions.

It may also expose the system such that the selection system recruits incompetent people to work in the Marine Corps. The other security issue or risk in this department is the cyber terrorists where the department may be a target of cyber terrorists who disrupt Marine Corps department activities to delay recruitment. In addition, they ensure that there is a military workforce problem thereby making the country susceptible to terrorist’s attacks (Beynon, 2009).

Data Recovery Plan

There are situations where the department must have data recovery procedure. The instances that lead to loss of data make the department susceptible. For example, the department location is susceptible to the thunderstorms, lightening and other natural calamities that may lead to physical destruction of the data storage location.

If there are no mechanisms to recover the data lost, there will be an absolute loss of vital defense information. The second instance relates to cyber attacks or instances where malware, virus or spyware access the data thereby destroying the programs and other vital information managed by the department. This may led to loss of data if there is no other place where data is stored and protected (David, 2010).

The other risk relates to the employees working in the department as they can also hack the information system thereby accessing unauthorized information.

This means that department must have policies on how to protect the data internally from access by unauthorized persons who may access private information about the department and affect recruitment of new employees. This can be prevented by having passwords and biosensor security interfaces that sense the person operating the machine such that no unauthorized person access information (David, 2010).

When dealing with data resource management in the department of Marine Corps recruiting information system department’s data security policy and recommend improvements, there are several ways of recovering data. The first one is that the department has remote computers that store the data and are not in the same physical location (Sprague, 2009).

Any data transmitted to the data storage computers goes directly to the remote computers for storage. This ensures that in case of an attack in the location of the computers or electronic systems storing data the department can recover the data stored in the remote locations (Stanford, 2010).

The other data recovery mechanism involves creation of back up discs to store small amounts of data in the computers affected by viruses and malware software. This data helps the department to create a good strategy of preserving the information so that it can be accessed in future. The computers also have firewall protection to prevent dissemination of vital information from the data centers to any other unauthorized location (O’Brien, 2011).

The Effect of the Risk Analysis and Recovery Plan on the Information System

The risk analysis is imperative to this department as it ensures that unauthorized person cannot access the department’s vital information. The risk assessment also creates awareness of the risks that exist concerning data management. It exposes loopholes that may serve as an opening to the malware, spyware and other malicious information programs intended to harm the operations of the department (Sprague, 2009).

To deal with this problem, the recovery plan involves ensuring that the computers have firewall applications to prevent entry of unintended programs and codes that are intended to harm the computers and data storage facilities. After ensuring that there is firewall protection, the computers must have antivirus programs to delete such programs once detected. The antivirus should be updated once it expires so that it does not become virus to the computers.

To ensure that there is no loss of data because of natural calamities the Data Resource Management System use automatic remote updating technology that updates additional information to the remote computer every hour. This ensures that there cannot be absolute loss of data stored in the departments’ data management system.

The other strategy is to have data stored in discs that are stored in secure places such that if there is a problem that affects one computer and not the whole system, the data in the computer can be recovered from the remote data saving discs for the computer (Cabral, 2010).

Conclusion

Data recovery is an imperative operation of the Data Resource Management. Every manager should ensure that the data in the company is safe and can be retrieved when need arise. The creation of the data recovery department in the company ensures that there is an appropriate way to of dealing with data losses.

No data would be lost if the data resource manager constantly evaluates the risks and data recovery plans. The management should be informed that any data lost in the company affect the operations as well as the output. The employees should be informed about how to maintain safety of the data to avoid any loss.

References

Alter, S. (2011). The work system method: connecting people, processes, and it for business results. California: Works System Press.

Beynon, P. (2009). Business information systems. Basingstoke: Palgrave Press.

Cabral, J. (2010). Is there need for data resource management? The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communication, 2, 5-13.

Clemons, K. (2012). IS for sustainable competitive advantage. Information & Management, 11, 131-136.

David, C. (2010). Information theory, inference, and learning algorithms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fazlollah, R. (2010). An introduction to information theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Kroenke, D. (2012). Experiencing management information system. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Lindsay, J. (2010). Information Systems – Fundamentals and Issues. London: Kingston University Press.

Luftman, J. N. (2012). Managing the information technology resource: Leadership in the information age (12^th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

McKeen, J. D. & Smith, H. (2009). IT strategy in action. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

O’Brien, J. (2011). Management information systems. New York: McGraw-Hill, Irwin.

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

Sprague, R. (2009). Information systems management in practice (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Stanford, G. (2010). Information theory. New York: Prentice Hall.

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