Learning Objectives: Transactions, Systems, and Cost of Ownership. Dell Computer stock price. DELL vs Compaq (1-year)

Transcription

1 s, Systems, and Cost of Ownership Copyright IS MBA Core Faculty, 2002 Fundamentals of IT and E-Commerce Fall Session 2a Prof. Foster Provost 1 Learning Objectives: Discuss ways IT adds value and the role of client/server systems as enabling technologies using Dell Online as an example. Describe the properties required of transaction processing in mission critical business systems, giving an example of each. Explain the role of application servers in transaction processing and why ecommerce has made them necessary. Briefly describe the principle of and components of client/server systems, giving examples. Critically discuss the concept of total cost of ownership, and the impacts of client/server systems on total cost of ownership. 2 Dell Computer stock price DELL vs Compaq (1-year) 3 4 1

2 Dell vs Compaq (5 years) How does IT add value to Dell s Business? 5 6 How does IT add value to Dell s Business? Analyzing Dell Integrated Supply Chain reduces uncertainty: Inventory The Customer is brought inside Dell. Visibility through supply chain Know more about customers (data) Sales-force efficiencies Low menu costs Low customization costs Service efficiencies Better strategic planning/marketing 7 8 2

3 Mission-critical Business Systems Robust transactions - examples Different companies have different sorts of mission-critical transactions Consider Dell Online fundamental, mission-critical transactions (e.g. sales) take place without human involvement Consider Banks transfers of money (for example) often take place without human involvement Etc. These transactions need special attention 9 transaction: sequence of predefined actions performed on behalf of a business application Dell consumer purchases a new computer step-by-step charge credit card CRASH! oops! (even worse other way around ) Bank transfer $1,000,000 from account A to account B step-by-step withdraw from account A CRASH! oops! 10 Properties of robust transactions Atomicity: all or nothing (all steps are executed, or none) e.g., you can t withdraw money without debiting your account Consistency: state of system must be consistent from business perspective e.g., you can t withdraw more money than is in your account Isolation: transactions execute as if serial not parallel e.g., two people can t withdraw the same money from an account Durability: a committed transaction must survive failures e.g., the system won t forget a deposit once the receipt is issued. How do we ensure that transactions are robust? it is hard (technically) also, there are major issues of performance for missioncritical transactions you often don t want your in-house IS department building solutions buy a system that does it for you (TP) Monitors. CICS (IBM) - Customer Control System BEA Systems Major database systems ORACLE (and Informix, Sybase, IBM) this one of the main reasons you buy a serious DBMS 11 Aside: Online vs Batch 12 3

4 What s new with ecommerce and ebusiness? Dell Online as a Client/Server System Companies always have needed robust transactions Now we need to have them in enterprise-spanning systems (spanning multiple databases) in inter-enterprise systems in web-based, client/server systems The solution: Application Servers An application server is middleware software that provides services to business applications including transaction monitoring, security, scalability and connectivity to other systems (applications and databases, web servers). Examples: BEA (WebLogic) IBM (WebSphere) Oracle, Borland, plus, ecommerce servers: Sun, Broadvision, Blue Martini, etc Client-Server Architecture A Multi-tier Client/Server System A Distributed System Division of labor Server Definition 1: A powerful computer that will run server software Definition 2: Software that provides a service to other systems E.g. File Server, Web Server, Database Server, Application Server, Server Client A system that requests a service E.g. Browser, software, MS-Word, (Database) Application Client, Lotus Notes client

5 Client/Server as an Enabling Technology Dell Online as a Client/Server System For example: Dell Online Browser/Web server/tps The customer is brought inside the system TPS/Database server Dell knows the who, what and when of its customers and their transactions Other applications/database server Target Marketing Customer Service Forecasting and Strategic Planning Inventory What is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of IT? What is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of IT? TCO includes: Initial purchase Hardware upgrades Software upgrades Business process conversion Training Technical support