The Match: A Case Study In Algorithm Analysis Of The National Resident Matching Program

There are rare opportunities when solving an easily-understood problem can bring together application of skills taught in diverse courses in a Computer Science (CS) or Management Information Systems (MIS) program.  This paper presents such an opportunity in the typical database management systems course taught at the junior or senior level.  Specifically, we describe the case study of solving the classical Hospitals/Residents problem in Microsoft Access.  The solution, based on classical Gale-Shapely algorithm for the Stable Marriage problem, offers pedagogical opportunities in data modeling, algorithm and data structure considerations for program development, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and embedded SQL (Structured Query Language) programming, and empirical analysis of running time complexity of algorithms that work remarkably well in teaching students the value of each tool in the toolset they take away from required courses as a part of their undergraduate education in CS or MIS

Recursive Joins to Query Data Hierarchies in Microsoft Access

Organizational charts (departments, sub-departments, sub-sub-departments, and so on), project work breakdown structures (tasks, subtasks, work packages, etc.), discussion forums (posting, response, response to response, etc.), family trees (parent, child, grandchild, etc.), manufacturing bill-of-material, product classifications, and document folder hierarchies are all examples of hierarchical data. Although relational databases can represent such hierarchical data with ease, relational query languages such as Structured Query Language (SQL) and Query-By-Example (QBE) fail to support users in formulating natural queries involving transitive closure of such hierarchical data (e.g., listing all descendants of an individual in a family tree scenario). This paper presents a simple approach for teaching users how to overcome this shortcoming and formulate the required recursive joins in order to query such data hierarchies in Microsoft Access

A New Methodology For Developing The MIS Master Plan

Organizations, small and large, for profit and non-profit, service oriented as well as manufacturing, have continued to increase their expenditures in information technology (IT) in recent years throughout the world. These expenditures in manufacturing floor and office workflow automation, PC’s, application packages, customized software development, communications and wireless networking, the Internet, and web-based applications, have been intended to be investments for improving efficiency, increasing effectiveness, and maintaining or advancing competitive position. Unfortunately, not all investments in IT have brought the anticipated payoff. This fact, combined with the rapid pace of change in IT leading to quick obsolescence of hardware and software platforms, have renewed attention to long term planning for IT investments. This paper presents an input/output model for developing a Management Information Systems (MIS) Master Plan and compares several methodologies, including IBM’s Business Systems Planning and the Information Engineering approach, for developing such a plan. Moreover, we present a new methodology for IT planning that seeks to overcome the shortcomings of the existing methodologies while building on their strengths

A Value Stream Approach For Greening The IT Department

In this paper, we consider the application of Green Value Stream Mapping for greening the information technology functional area of organizations. We advocate the use of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) processes to consider value stream maps for both the manufacturing side of the IT department as well as its service delivery arm. In addition, we present steps to be taken by the IT department to eliminate waste in each of seven green waste areas and consider the impact of new technologies for greening the IT department

Big Data And The Hobsons Choice For IT Management

The advent of Big Data is confronting Chief Information Officers (CIOs) with the fundamental dilemma of what role do we want Information Technology (IT) to play in building the DSS (Decision Support Systems) portfolio for the enterprise? This paper points out that the question is an existential one. For too long IT Management has concentrated on becoming the principal source of support for managers, in all functional areas and at all managerial levels, with the information they require for their control needs. At the same time, the IT function has been content to play second fiddle to domain experts, knowledge engineers, and decision modelers from outside the IT function for the same mangers needs for problem solving, planning, and decision making. Big Data, with its real-time impact on managerial control and planning needs, changes this status quo. It behooves CIOs to confront this Hobsons choice lest another C-level officer role such as Chief Analytics (or Data Science) Officer diminish the place of the IT function and the chant of does IT matter reverberate once again

Consuming Web Services: A Yahoo! Newsfeed Reader

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) shows demonstrable signs of simplifying software integration. It provides the necessary framework for building applications that can be integrated and can reduce the cost of integration significantly. Organizations are beginning to architect new integration solutions following the SOA approach. As such, information systems (IS) curricula must introduce students to SOA and Web Services as early as possible. This paper presents an ideal opportunity to expose IS students to SOA as soon as they are introduced to the basics of HTML and programming. The application developed by students, a Yahoo! newsfeed reader, running as a client-side application, has the additional benefit of only requiring the Internet Explorer. A JavaScript translation and an implementation of the application in classic Active Server Pages (ASP) for server-side execution are also presented

Choosing IT Platforms In The Age Of Stuxnet

This paper addresses the question of choosing/investing in IT (hardware/software) platforms that avoid quick obsolescence and the underlying dilemmas of choosing proprietary software versus open source software, and opting for managed services such as public cloud computing versus in-house hardware/communication infrastructures.  These dilemmas in strategic information systems planning have become more significant in light of the recent revelations of security backdoors in commercial software, encryption backdoors in communication software, and governmental access to private data on managed services for national security reasons.  This paper considers enterprise-wide challenges and strategies for adopting open source software/hardware in response to these security concerns

A Simpler Approach to Set Comparison Queries in SQL

The current specification of the SQL standard fails to support users adequately in formulating complex queries involving set comparison that tend to arise in on-line analytical processing (OLAP) situations. Such queries must be formulated using correlated subqueries and the NOT EXISTS function which present an overwhelming challenge to both casual as well as everyday SQL users. This paper presents a simpler approach for teaching users how to formulate in SQL complex set comparison queries encountered in ad-hoc decision making scenarios

Social Media In Government: From eGovernment To eGovernance

Over the past five years, Web 2.0 has transformed the Internet by allowing previously passive web surfers to become active content creators who want to share. Companies have been quick to jump on the bandwagon to invest in social media in order to engage their customers, and governments have followed businesses in trying Web 2.0 technologies and are now focusing on investments in social media as a part of their IT strategy.  But, should the adoption of social media in government follow the same trial and error approach that business has used? Or, are there inherently different mission-related parameters that dictate different cost benefit analysis for investment in the use of social media in government? In this paper, we consider these questions in light of Accenture’s Public Service Value Governance Framework

Converting Paradoxs QBE Set Queries Into Access 2000 SQL

One of the most important promises of the move to an SQL-based accounting software package has been that it frees the accountant from the necessity of resorting to a programmer when retrieving information from the organization's database in response to unanticipated managerial needs. That promise is founded, in part, on the availability of a very high-level, visual relational query language interface known as Query By Example (QBE). Unfortunately, the implementation of QBE in Microsoft Access 2000 fails to support users in formulating complex queries involving set comparison that tend to arise in on-line analytical processing (OLAP) situations. And, while Paradoxs implementation of QBE makes the formulation of such queries quite intuitive, its built-in SQL translation feature fails to provide a clue on how to convert such queries into SQL. This paper presents a systematic approach based on formulating complex set queries in Paradoxs richer QBE notation and translating them into SQL queries that can be handled by Access 2000