Group CIO Evaluation Project

Each student will be a member of a group of three to five participants. Each group will be given a topic on which to prepare a CIO briefing. The briefing can be thought of as a CIO's discussion of an IT-related issue, at a level understandable to the top (non-technical) managers of a business or agency. The purpose of the briefing is to educate the managers about the parameters of the issue, its technological facets, why it is important to them, and how they should proceed on this issue. Click here to see an example of an evaluation of  Distance Learning Packages. 

Each group is encouraged to take advantage of the conferencing tools and email to coordinate their work though there is no prohibition from having phone and face-to-face meetings. The problems encountered in using the on-line tools, and the techniques used to overcome them, can be a tremendous learning experience for the student. The briefing should be delivered electronically to the instructor in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), or in a form that can be readily converted to HTML. For example, a WordPerfect or Microsoft Word document will suffice. The paper-equivalent document is expected to be 7 to 12 pages in length not including title page, executive summary, and references. Longer papers will not be penalized. The briefing should be authoritative, and should cite authoritative sources as evidence for its assertions. The due date to deliver the briefing will be as indicated on the class schedule. The instructor will make the document available as a Web page for the other students to view.

** Special note: an anonymous peer evaluation survey will be due following this last assessment. Averaged results of that assessment will be weighted as 25% of the overall grade for that assignment. Peer reviews where an individual assigns all his/her team members 100s or similar high marks will be disregarded as delusional and the peer reviewer will be assigned average grades (i.e. 80).

Example:

        Submitted by Ron Howard

                Andy Griffith        88
                Barney Fife          92
                Aunt Bee             76

CIO Evaluation Topics

Data Mining

Because computers are so widespread, they generate tremendous volumes of transaction data. But this situation cannot be described as a "wealth" of data. Too often, it sits unused in the organization's computer system. There is real wealth in information that can be derived from the data. Information about customers, suppliers, operations, marketing, and how they all relate together. Data mining technology is a class of software that allows you plumb through all that data to discern patterns that might be useful to management.

Knowledge Management

For a company like Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, or IBM, it would be meaningless to discuss its value in terms of physical assets. What makes companies like these truly valuable is not plant, property or equipment; it is the intangibles that enable the company to create value in a global, competitive marketplace. Some would argue that the knowledge of a company's employees is the one truly valuable asset a company owns. They would further argue that a major duty of top management is to inventory, codify, nurture, diffuse and continually refresh that knowledge. Information technology offers new ways of managing knowledge, putting it in the service of the organization.

The Virtual Office

Current computing and communications technologies are redefining the idea of the office. The old style of office is a set of cubicles and enclosed rooms, where people commute to each day from their homes. Telecommuting, hot-desking, office hotelling, virtual workgroups, and other practices are manifestations of the virtual office concept. In a sense, the work you and your group members do on your briefing is an example of work in the virtual office.

Application Service Providers

As with any new hot industry, the definition of ASP seems to change daily. Essentially, it's a software architecture that hosts applications on a central server, as opposed to the desktop. This basic definition is not new; mainframe-based architectures of 40 years ago did the same thing. But with high-speed, reliable, standardized telecommunications (e.g., the Internet), server-based software is getting a new look. Companies are now diving into this market, promising to help you transform your computing applications from PC or client-server based to Web-centric. Advantages include providing the latest applications, reflecting best business practices, at a smaller cost than that of in-house software. 

Reducing Total Cost of Ownership

Because of competitive pressures, all corporate expenditures are coming under tighter scrutiny, including information technologies. But initial purchase price for desktop computers is a woefully inadequate measure of the life-cycle cost. Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a measure of the total costs of a PC over its lifetime. One estimate indicated that an un-managed PC can cost as much as $40,000 over its lifetime, including maintenance, support, software upgrades and configuration changes. By looking at the entire set of costs incurred when a PC is purchased and used, efficiencies may be identified to reduce TCO.

Extreme Application Development

Packages can be delivered in one day. Eyeglasses in about an hour. Film can be processed the same day. Why is software delivered on a schedule discussed in terms of months and years? What's worse, when it is delivered, it's bug-ridden and fulfills requirements that are no longer relevant. Senior management is increasingly impatient with this situation. The traditional life-cycle method of software seems out-of-touch with present business realities. How can information systems be delivered in a timeframe that would make them truly helpful? Like hours or days (weeks, at worst).