Analyzing the Research Questions

¶ … space for a company's computer use growth, it is always important to adjust the structuring of the IT systems. This is especially important in today's technologically integrated world where every organization has to stay up-to-date to remain competitive. This has led to many organizations becoming dependent on IT systems to support the management in making decisions and to make sure that their employees have the information and technologies they need to effectively perform their jobs.

I am in agreement with the argument that it is not the duty of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) to come up with a vision. I think this duty or responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the Chief executive officer. The duty of the CIO is to make sure that the organization's information technology is functioning at its optimum and that it can help meet the strategic goals of the business. The CIO reports to the CEO, who is usually the highest ranking officer in any organization. The CEO is appointed by a board of directors. It is the responsibility of the CEO to make all final decisions and to make sure that the company operates at its optimal level. In other words, the CEO makes sure that the company's strategic objectives are met. Thus, for one to succeed in this position, he or she needs to be a visionary, so as to lead the company in the right direction.

3.

I am in agreement that the practice is unsafe. It is wrong and unethical for an organization to pretend that it is collecting its clients' data for its own records and then it turns around and sells the said data to a third party. My biggest concern with such a practice is that customers' private data could end up with criminal organizations, which might use the data to steal funds, identities or to commit dozens of other fraudulent activities. This is the reason why organizations offer their clients the option of unsubscribing from receiving emails, phone calls, mail or mobile messages. Many companies have gone ahead to tell their customers that they do not share their data with third parties. This is in a bid not to lose the said customers (Jacobus, 2000).

4.

In the building of any computer system, the very first stage is system planning. System planning entails the process of deciding the procedures, strategies and techniques that are needed for system formation. The process involves designing, evaluating, integrating and maintenance. This is also the stage where the objectives of the system are laid out -- various team managers are given their tasks in this stage. If one is using the SLDC approach, this is also the stage where all data related to IT is collected. And then on the basis of the data collected, the team can decide on the flow of tasks. Timelines and budgets are also set at this stage.

The strategic information system planning model is made in such a way that it can be used in any type of information system gathering. How effective that model would be would depends on the rigor with which it is applied in an organization, the data gathered during the information gathering process and the complexity of the task for which the system is being used for. For instance, coming up with a system for payroll purposes for a hundred employees would be less tasking compared to making a system for a military command and control system. The strategic information and system planning framework brings about an organized and structured process of gathering and analyzing important data prior to commencing system acquisitions. The framework involves 8 steps:

Mission identification

Functions identification

Identification of the information required to perform the functions

Identification of the data required to perform the functions

Identification of the precise applications that are required to provide the data

Specification of a logical system definition

Discussion of alternative system architectures/structures

Selection of a target architecture

Since the process of making such a system is repetitive, any big change in requirements or objectives during any of the 8-steps may require the system planner to start again from the top to make sure that the final system will satisfactorily meet the needs of the user within their budget and timeline.

5.

A web service allows communication between applications by utilizing open standards such as SOAP, WSDL, XML, and HTML. For instance, a web service used SOAP to communicate data that is tagged using XML. Since web services are built on protocols that are already functional, they inherit the characteristics of the said protocols. They are secure since they use different data protection mechanisms.