Benjamin L. Nelson

Decision trees can be useful in professional and personal situations. I couldn’t help but think about how helpful decision trees would be for the salon I work at in center city. If we used decision trees, they could help with several processes. One example would be closing the salon each night. There are many things that need to be done before we can close. We need to count inventory, fully clean each room, count any cash payments, escalate any payment discrepancies, and perform a large list of other tasks. Employees may move faster if they have some sort of decision tree to know what to do next throughout the night. I think decision trees could also be useful for training new employees. If an employee could take home an organized decision tree, they could visualize the way the operations of our salon work.

In my profession I assist students with outstanding balances. Often the student assumes that their financial Aid and student loans are going to cover their full tuition, and when it does not they are unable to register. The student plan “A” was to register they did not have a plan “B”. I think a Decision Tree would be helpful in mapping out one’s life plans. Everyone has a plan “A” on how they would like to achieve their life’s goals. Sometimes obstacles get in the way and you are unable to enact plan “A”. So you need to have a backup plan “B” and a decision tree is a good way to map out all of the “IF’s” in your life you may encounter so you can make a wise decision.

After our class on Tuesday night, I started a chapter in my statistics class that advocates the use of decision trees to solve probability problems. This organized method of question and answer really helps with visualizing complex word problems in mathematics by making them simple to understand and use. Not only are decision trees useful for organizing numerical information, they could also be useful for organizing information for employees in a company. In the HR Department I currently work in, I was recently assigned the task of creating a document that contains representative contact information so that employees will know who to direct their benefit questions to. Upon learning about decision trees, I am thinking it would be beneficial for me to map out the contacts based upon potential questions in one of the trees. This way, the representative information will be quick and accessible based on whatever questions my employees may have.

Other than Information System, I think the decision tree can be a really helpful tool to draw plan, demonstrate a process, for example: your plan for certain days, schedule or studying plan for exam or ideas for your business ( investment, restaurant, project..) Decision tree is helpful since it is easy to understand, it is clear and people can easily see the outcomes when they take a few seconds to look at it.

I think a decision tree would be very helpful in the banking world, because there are so many important decisions that need to be made on a daily basis. At my credit union members are coming in with various types of transactions to complete for them, and problems which need to be fixed. Depending on the problem, one might need to reach out to superiors or other departments to come up with a solution for the member. It would be very helpful for our employees to be able to reference this diagram as needed, and be able to see the outcomes before handling the member’s account.

I can think of many reasons, pretty much unlimited reasons, as to how a decision tree would be helpful. I think that they can help tremendously not only in business, but also in personal choices as well. Sometimes just seeing something laid out in that exact way can help you come to a better decision. I know for example in my job, I sell cosmetics, we could use these for the process of how to sell and market our items. I think creating a decision tree could make people make better, more well thought out decisions. It also can help if say someone is great at selling a product, or whatever it is that they do, they could make a decision tree so others could replicate what it is they do.

As someone who is very indecisive, I believe that decision trees would be useful in my personal and professional life. For my personal life, it could help me determine my plans for a particular day or what I should spend my money on. In my professional life decision trees would also be very useful. As a human resource management major, decision trees can be used to determine which applicants you call in for an interview based off of their resumes. It can also help determine how people get paid, or how raises are determined. Decision trees allow you to really sit down and think about the different outcomes for certain situations, so they can really be used for anything.

Decisions trees can be useful in any situation where you have several courses of action. This could be professional or even personal decisions. I know in my profession, a decision tree would very useful to show the application process for renting apartments. There are several different results the applicant could get (accept, accept with conditions, decline, and criminal decline) and each result has its own list of actions needed to complete the process. Also, like I said, decision trees are very helpful for personal things an example being a list of chores needed to get down. For instance, I have wash, bathroom cleaning, and yard work to do. What is going to get done first is going to depend on some situations as in is it good weather to do the yard work or is anyone going to be home where the bathrooms are not available to be occupied by cleaning, etc.

Decision trees can be helpful in any sort of scenario where you need to explore multiple options. You can use it to decide which job to accept, vacation and financial planning, as well as countless other things that need to be weighted and decided

I could see decision trees being used in a for Risk Management. Decision trees reduce the dangers a company might be exposed to if it settled on a moment’s decision without considering future consequences. A decision tree allows the company to take the time to think of multiple outcomes to a given situation and how to act or react accordingly. Since a company already outlined the possible consequences, facing risks become more manageable. The decision tree becomes a tool you can use to prepare for the risk.

I believe a decision tree could be use when looking at personal career goals and paths. A person has to ask many questions and make many decisions that may lead to a success career. There will be some changes here and there but as least you ask the questions; is education needed, any training afterwards, salary goals, etc. Without considering some of these outcomes, you maybe a “starving unhappy artist” as some may call it with huge bills living in their family/friends basement for the rest of their life.

I think decision trees could be helpful in basically any aspect. We don’t even realize it when we’re weighing the pros and cons of decisions in our everyday lives, but we use them when deciding if we’ll have time to stop for coffee on the way to work and if that will make us late for work and what will happen if we are late, etc. On an even larger scale, we use them when trying to make decisions about what career path we may choose or if an opportunity opens up for us to move halfway across the country for an amazing new job. It’s important to balance out the decision-making process into ways that gives each part a fair chance, this way you’re not biased by already leaning in one direction.

I think in general decision trees could be used in any aspect of life, whether business, school, assessing personal goals, and situation or scope that involves us weighing decisions and wanting to review the clear outcome of our choice. Now that I’ve learned about them, I was thinking to do one for a home remodeling project. I could use thee decision tree to explore and view & review pricing, material, options, and so forth. It could help get the big picture of all my options as well as clarify if I have made the right decision.

I plan on using this week’s concepts in my day to day job. I recently took on a new position at work and there are now standard operating procedures (SOP). One of my goals for this year is to develop some SOP’s and I feel that business rules and decision trees will be extremely helpful in that process. Some of the areas that it will be helpful will be when processing credits, RMA’s, an aircraft entry into service and setting up new customer accounts. Many of these processes are basic in nature and have a lot of yes or no decisions, but require multiple people to be a part of the process. Going thru many of these processes it has required asking different people and using a decision tree and some business rules will make it standard for everyone.

Decision Trees are a great way to plan for all possible outcomes in one’s personal or professional lives. It is a great way to plan, think ahead and look at various alternatives. You can visualize the overall effect of each decision. In Sales and Marketing I am constantly planning for any possible outcome. If I am pre-call planning for an important meeting I think about where the conversation may go with my client. I realize it can go many different routes and I want to be prepared to speak intelligently or problem solve with whatever might come up in conversation. I realize that my client may say they are not interested in what I have to offer so I then need to have a back-up plan to pull them in. A decision Tree can be a huge help and in some aspect I am already using this tool. I realize it can also be a great way to help guide our children in decision making. As my kids get older they will be faced with more mature and difficult choices in life. This is a great way to look ahead and discuss possible outcomes/consequences of their decisions/actions.

I can think of many different situations where a decision tree would be helpful. We are looking to move this summer and I think that a decision tree could help in the process of figuring out where would be best to move. There are so many different things that need to be considered when relocating. I really didn’t give it too much thought at first. However, I need to make sure the area is safe and the schools are good. I also want to look for someplace that is convenient to our everyday commute. Having a decision tree could definitely make this process easier.

Well decision trees can be used for quite literally any aspect of life as well as their application to information systems. For instance with a pay check one could formulate a decision tree in regards to what to spend the money on. If I spend it here will I miss a bill there etc. One could use a decision tree to further this idea with a monthly budget to determine what are priorities and what aren’t. Decision trees could be used to view opportunity costs in a round about way as well. Decision trees allow anyone to formulate what the better option and outcome would be. Say I have a limited amount of time available between school and work. I could map out a decision tree to decide what to tackle between work and school and what to do after school. There is a practical application for decision trees with any aspect of life.

Decision trees would help me explain and set-up my workout schedule. I usually workout every other day, so if I worked out the day before, I don’t need to workout. I alternate my workouts between lifting weights and going on a run. However, I check the weather each week and try to adjust my workout schedule so that I run on the nicest days of the week. During the winter, I look for the warmest day of the week, and days that will be sunny. If I find one of these days, I might workout two days in a row in order to take advantage of the nice weather. If I don’t find a sunny and warm day, I took for a day that will at least be warmer than the other days. If it’s rainy the whole week, I’ll still make sure I go for a run. If it’s snowing (and very cold), I won’t run. Instead, I’ll lift or do body weight exercises depending on how much energy I have that day.
When it’s warm, sunny, and I’m home in the middle of the day, I take my dog for a walk in addition to my scheduled workout.
Using a decision tree would allow me (and those I’m explaining my workout schedule to) to easily follow my decision process and come to a conclusion.

Decision trees are a great aspect to be used whether it is for business, school or personal tasks. One aspect how to plan out a study plan to figure out many things. One thing would be is trying to plan a weekend socializing with others or going on adventures. If I am able to figure out what needs to get done throughout the week, the weekends would be lighter and my homework and studying can be focused on throughout the week. This way I am not rushing and stressing on the weekend as well as the weekdays. On top of that, it will keep me focused.

The decision tree is helpful in many areas other than information systems such as planning for a trip, being prepare for a job interview, building a study plan for a semester, and defining your job responsibilities at workplace. By mapping out branches from a subject, we can easily see potential outcomes without much effort. I would say that the decision tree is an easy way to get possible outcomes to draw our personal, business, and school plans. We can list many ideas in one tree for each subject visibly, and a tree can be a guide to accomplish a goal.

I feel like every choice I make I take myself through a decision tree. From getting up at 6am to workout or sleeping in and working at after work. Or eating chicken for dinner or making a cheese steak. Each choice requires a decision tree and outcomes that come with each choice. If I eat that cheese steak then I’m getting up at 6am to do the workout, if I choose chicken then its ok to sleep in and workout after work, but if I want to do really well in the upcoming races, I need to work out at 6am and again after work every day. Each missed workout and each bad eating habit choice I make result in bad outcomes. Conversely, each attended workout and each good eating habit choice result in good outcomes. This is just one little aspect of life, imagine all the other decisions [trees] that I make on a daily basis. Perhaps I should get this decision tree on paper to help visualize the process and maybe it will lead to better choices being made, more often than not.

Decision trees are constantly used throughout sports and certain competitions. I’ve seen many tree diagrams before we had reviewed them for hot dog eating contests, fantasy football, beer pong tournaments (all of age), and investments for mapping out finances. All of these work with decision trees because there is a single decision needing to be made “win or lose?”, or many such as “invest – yes or no?” and “profitable or not?”. These are just some other areas I’ve seen decision trees being helpful other than information systems.

Decision trees are extremely useful in the business work but I can see how I could use them in my everyday life. We can use them for simple things such as deciding where to go on vacation; this would work similar to the parents visiting decision tree. This would be helpful because it would put all the possible options in one place and allow you to chose the best spot based on the criteria. As a visual person, this would help me tremendously. For instance, you may choose to stay domestic rather than travel internationally based on, vacation time, time of the year, or budget. Conversely, you could use one to determine what time of the year would be best to travel to a specific destination.

I work as an office manager and I like decision trees for how I answer phone calls. We are a small business but we have three different departments. Often, the managers for the departments will be out of the office so I try to gather as much information as possible to direct the person to the proper department. Decision trees help me know what question and information I need to get next.

Decision Trees are clear and simple in the way that they can help break down complex business rules into easy to read diagrams. Using the same platform, decision trees can, literally be used to help understand and make everyday choices. I have tried to use this concept in everyday choices and home life. As a parent, there are a lot of “do this” and “don’t do that…unless this happens, then do this” and “if this occurs, it’s better if you do this”. There are no written rules for parenting or how to rear children. So a decision tree could be used to gather all the different “rules” and apply them to best fit your style of parenting.

As an accounting major, we can use decision trees to create more efficient systems to help manage costs. By outlining what goes on in the company, we can cut down and make more efficient processes which help in reduce spending. The accounting profession is becoming more analytical than just book keeping. Decision trees and information systems in general help with the validity of this field.

There are numerous occasions I find myself weighing out all my options to make a thorough decision from being a first time homeowner, parent and employee. A decision tree is a tangible tool to help weigh options with several possible outcomes. For example, in my job I was involved in several disaster recovery efforts. Our team had to implement a plan of action for our department in the event of an interruption of service. A decision tree would have been helpful in planning for each possible scenario.

I always have trouble making decisions in my own life, especially when the outcome of the decision is something I can’t change. Like the activity during class on Tuesday, I would use decision trees to make life decisions. Being able to look forward to the possibilities of certain decisions would really help to have a clear picture of how I can move forward.

I work on a team of five people, and we have to influence the larger team that consists of over fifty people. I definitely think my team could utilize decision trees to better strategize on how we can connect with our team. We all have different personalities and some of us are better at connecting with certain team members than others may be. Utilizing decision trees we would more easily to present our strategy to our leaders.

There are countless situations in which decision trees would be helpful. Being an indecisive person can be difficult at times and creating a decision tree, mental or otherwise, could help with day-to-day planning in regards to what needs to be done and how to spend money wisely. In a professional setting, decision trees would be useful in training new employees. I was supposed to train a new employee in my department last night and had created a mental decision tree of sorts for how I was going to go about training, but, unfortunately, my trainee did not show.

Working in the marketing field, I can absolutely see decision trees working effectively when mapping out a plan for an existing or new client. Regardless if the account if for a website, PR or a development of a mobile application, we can apply the exact concept of a decision tree to each one. Mentally I already find myself mapping out the steps and thankfully for project management software, it can be mapped out even easier. But a decision tree would make things easier to see on paper to avoid as many mistakes as can happen without seeing a project in writing from point A to point B.

I think decision trees are one of the most useful things we’ve discussed in class thus far. I could use a decision tree for almost anything, and run through mental ones all the time. I could create several to go through various processes in my day-to-day responsibilities at work, which is helpful for training new employees and giving supervisors a look into how it’s done. Making one would also help make sure I wasn’t skipping any important steps in the process.

I think that decision trees are very useful in all business fields in addition to information systems. For example, when implementing a new marketing strategy for a brand, one could develop a decision tree to determine the advantages and disadvantages of each decision when implementing the strategy. Even outside of the business world, one can use a decision tree for personal decisions such as a job hunt or spending money.

I feel like a decision tree is useful in so many different situations. I think it could be especially useful in the banking industry. The banking industry utilizes many different services in order to track the flow of money. It can be used to show how the flow process works, which accounts the money could come out of (i.e. savings/checking), who is responsible for certain cases, and many more ways. Because banks have so many components that go into making sure their customers money is safe and easily accessible to them if need be as well as keeping track of credit/debit cards and many other situations, a decision tree can be an easy way to be able to look at the flow of all of these components and how they can work together to provide a more efficient service.

Lavin is the best!

While I found swimlanes to be easier to create and comprehend, I think that ERDs would be more useful for my major. I am a double major in International Business with a concentration in marketing and French. ERDs could be very useful in IB because they would offer professionals the chance to look carefully at various stakeholders involved in the business. A key component of international marketing that I keep learning time and time again is to really understand and study your markets. You could create a detailed ERD for just one market and use it to implement or improve business in a new market. Ane because ERDs are easily accessible, and quickly available, it would be great for global businesses who may not meet in real-time. By giving attributes to the different external and internal stakeholders, you could also start to analyze the relationships they have with other entities such as resources, long-term assets, and modes of communication. On the other hand, for someone studying international supply chain, I can see why it would be useful to use a swimlane rather than an ERD.

I find that a swimlane diagram would be a better option for my field of work(banking), because this option would provide a more detailed roadmap of our procedures for opening/closing the branch, job titles and roles, other departments, etc. I work with many other departments throughout the course of my day, and it would be convenient for my employees and I to be able to reference this pictorial if need be to keep on track with everything. I would also say from a management prospective this option would be a great tool for emergency situations too, such as if there was a fire which exits are closest and safest to use. There are many more detailed ways to use this diagram, and a lot of helpful situations it could be used for which is why I would choose the Swimlane diagram for my field of work.

As a Human Resource Management major, I believe swimlane diagrams would be more useful in my career. We are able to use swimlane diagrams to determine the process of how employees will receive their paychecks. Swimlane diagrams are also used to track Wellness points and can also be used to help track personal development hours. In Human Resources, many of the everyday tasks that are completed, are completed by more than one person. That is why swimlane diagrams are so helpful, because they are a visually representation of who does what in order to complete a task.

I work in the Finance Department and I think the Swimlanes would be the best method of analyzing the processes in my department. We have several units in our department that are responsible for different functions, and some functions do cross. The Swimlane diagram would show where the process starts, and the steps that are involved in completing the process. It could also point out that some processes are redundant and should be streamlined.

In my business the ERD would be used more often. I have many customers and products to keep track of. I have information on customers like their name, address, phone number, email, credit cards used in the past, items rented in the past and how much they spent on said item. As for my products, I have the item, the size, the weight, the RIO by year, month, the number of times it has been rented, all maintenance logs, all inspection and of course the registration numbers. My system does save more than just what I have listed and I am sure it can be broken up much more. However, I am still learning the ERD construction.

Michelle Martiuk

In my place of work, a Swim lane Diagram would be the most useful. We have many SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure) that out line various and tasks to ensure consistencies and cross training. What sometimes is lost in an SOP is what happens when it flows to another department. For example, I work for a catering company and when a customer places a special order it touches a few departments before eventually the client picks it up. We have multiple SOPs for each department from taking the order, to processing the order, and preparing it in the kitchen. A swim lane diagram would be helpful to show how all of these tasks flow from one department to the other.

Since I am a HRM major, I can definitely see the usefulness of a Swim lane diagram within this field. For example a swim lane diagram can be used to explain and show the process of communication for employees within the HR department. As well as you can use it to display for example a swim lane diagram of how to file a complaint, and how it gets processed. Basically it can be used to not only direct information towards employees, however, also explain the processes within. I think this is very useful, because it is direct, and to the point.

As a MIS major, I believe both ERD and Swim lane diagrams are useful. However, I think the ERD diagram may be more suitable since working in IS field requires to use and process a lot of data and ERD helps to show clearly the relationships of entity sets stored in a database and illustrates the logical structure of databases

As a Marketing Manager I find both swim lanes and ERDs could be a useful tool but I can see more value in an ERD. In a marketing role, our goal is to sell our product or service to the customer through communication and highlighting the true value of what we are selling. In order to successfully do this, we must understand our market and who we are selling to. We must understand their needs and wants and help them identify. An ERD can help us better understand through the collection of data and leads in a database. We can easily reach our entity’s, their attributes and better understand the relationships between them through this tool.

As a Business Management major, both ERDs and swimlane diagrams are great resources. In my Pharmaceutical line of work, an ERD would be a better resource. We have many different types of people on out team and each have a different role. It is hard to always remember which team member is in charge. An ERD would create an easier tool to know which team member is in charge of which process in pharmaceuticals. This helps us stay on track and we would be able to know which person to go to in order to proceed to the next step in validating the drug.

In my current career, I work for a residential management company. I believe the swim lane diagram would be very useful for different tasks that need to be completed that go through various departments. A great example is how to process a security deposit refund. This is a frequent task that starts with the resident and goes through the property site bookkeeper, property manager, the regional property manager, the corporate security analyst, and back out to the resident. I feel the swim lane is a great visual tool to use so that everyone is aware of who oversees what tasks. If something went wrong or was delayed, it would be very easy to see who was accountable for that. It is also a great tool for a new employee to have a better understanding of the process for those different tasks.

I believe that as an HRM major, swimlane diagrams would be a more useful tool within my field. What I have in mind as an example to support this claim is the multi-faceted process that is recruiting. I believe an HR process, such as recruiting, that involves decisions from two or more people (i.e. a Hiring Manager, Upper Management, and an HR Assistant) would lend itself well to being laid out in a swimlane diagram. Communication is key in the field of Human Resources, and I believe that a swimlane diagram would be the most effective tool to clearly communicate information to all employees within the company.

In my current career, we use SAP and other programs, which I wished communicated better but I use ERD programs. I need to know all my customers information at a glance, inventories, purchasing cycles, order histories, accounting data, etc. I need to place orders at real time or my customers can also order online on their accounts. I need to access data to look up their history to help them reorder items or offer ideas for alternative items. ERDs help me with my job on a daily basis and without this system; it would be hours of looking up old, out dated data.

I am a business administration accounting major. So in my specific major I feel like a swim lane diagram would be just as useful as an ERD program. The ERD would let me know specifically in the real world when I get a job in accounting specific qualities and relationships of one client, and even similar clients. I could Take an ERD and create it for clients and have within that field for clients their addresses, names, cities, states and phone number. Then I could create another field called say Financial stability. Based off the accounting information I am filing for each client I then would be able to attach in this field a list of assets, liabilities, and other sources of equity. This is just a basic example but I could continue effectively creating a database of my clients linking them through specific relationships, and in each field have specific qualities. As for the swim lane diagram I feel like that would be useful in any career or major. Certainly being able to express the logical process of decisions and who all is involved in the process would be a good tool to use. I feel like more companies should capitalize on using swim lane diagrams to weed out redundancy.

Swim lane diagram’s more applicable for my field of working to analyze processes. I currently work as a Quality Control Inspector at my workplace, and I work with closely with several departments to update and resolve quality issues. I use a document that we call “Inventory checklist” per shipment to get the information for the list of the SKUs and the amount we supposed to receive by unloading a container. I also use an inspection sheet per SKU to evaluate product qualities based on our quality standard. I analyze quality issues and share it internally with our product managers, designers, and inventory controllers depends on the type of the quality issue we have. I notify quality issues to the vendors if the quality issue to advise them just for improvement on future productions or to request replacement shipment for serious quality issues. I keep tracking PO#s and vendor invoice #s to check the inventory status both in SAP and physically in warehouse to figure out the volume of items that have quality issues. I need to improve our current quality control process and the standard for the different types of product to maximize efficiency and get rid of unnecessary steps. Getting ideas on improving process and standards can’t be done by ERD because it’s more suitable to get information on what falls into which category. Swim lane diagram will help me fully understand the logic of process and get some ideas to improve process itself or quality control standards.

Considering I am taking accounting for information systems this semester, I have learned that Swimlane diagrams are very beneficial in being able to look at a particular system and find ways to cut costs. As an accountant this seems invaluable as the role of accountants have somewhat changed. Since much of the accounting process has been streamlined thanks to technology, accountants can put a greater focus on the actual numbers they report, and make informed decisions to aid in the decision making process. I think this change is welcomed. It makes the position more interesting and allows the accountant to become an even greater asset.

My major is Business management and I feel that both swim lanes and ERD’s can be very beneficial but it truly depends on the business. In my current field of aviation, I feel that swim lanes is the most helpful. Swim lanes can facilitate which direction to go for trouble shooting or maintenance based on what the current variable is. Swim lanes can also help facilitate the ordering of parts or any other needed paperwork for the company/FAA.

A friend and I started a blog together over a year ago, and currently have one contributor that writes a blog post every month, and other miscellaneous guest bloggers that write a one-time blog post.
I recently created a document to explain the process of publishing a blog post: the writer and I come up with a topic, the writer writes their post, I proof it and give my feedback, the writer makes the edits, if the writer has questions about the edits he/she asks me, we brainstorm and agree on a title for the post, the writer submits it for review, my friend or I proof it one last time and add an image. After the post is published, my friend or I add it to our master list of posts and post it to the blog’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts using a Bitly (shortened) link.
All of this could be shown and explained in a simpler and straight-forward way if we used a Swimlane diagram. While creating a Swimlane diagram in class, I realized how helpful it could be in explaining the process to guest bloggers.

In my current position, I think a swimlane diagram would be more helpful. I’ve worked in several positions at my company, from retail compliance to AP to billing. We also have a number of subsidiary companies that I work within. A swimlane would help visualize what is done by who, which makes it easier for management to know who to ask, as well as make it easier to cross-train personnel (I’ve personally helped train at least half a dozen people on various tasks) and help new employees better know who would be able to answer their questions. These detailed diagrams would help make the day-to-day operations go more smoothly at the corporate level. The different companies and departments get even the management team confused at times.

In my current position as a receptionist, I think that a swimlane diagram is the way to go. I recently had a problem with the management and I wanted the issue resolved ASAP. I went to my boss, who then went to his boss with my request, who then had to go to her boss, who finally told me that I should’ve went to her directly in the first place. If I would’ve known the proper channels to go through initially, then I don’t think my request would’ve been as much of a hassle as it turned out to be. Our company isn’t really that large, so knowing who to go through for what is a process that should definitely be put into place so that issues like this don’t arise in the future!

In my current position as in insurance sales representative, I think a swimlane diagram could be helpful. In selling insurance products that are many procedures and government regulations a rep must follow. This can be dozens of pages which is wordy and long-winded; if that could be condensed into a swinlane diagram that could make the process and training far easier. Presenting the different scenarios that can arise in a typical policy sale into one succinct diagram could save a lot of time, prevent some mistakes, and save a company money on training.

My current career is sales and I sell B2B outbound teleservices (telemarketing solutions). I actually use flow charts (similar to Swimlanes) to help sell my solutions. So when we started learning about them last week I was already familiar with the concepts and the flow of a swimlane. Flowcharts/Swimlanes literally help me “paint a picture” for my prospects and clients. Showing them specifically how our process works and how the flow of a call will go. This absolutely helps my prospects buy into what we are selling so that we can help grow their business.

As a business management major, I feel that both swim line diagrams and ERDs are extremely useful in the business world. Depending on what field you are in would determine which diagram would be more appropriate or useful. With my experience with small businesses, I think in this atmosphere ERDs would be more useful. There are generally not many employees in a small business so tasks are frequently switched back and forth making a swim line diagrams change frequently. ERDs would make it easier for keep track of data, inventory, and orders.

As a risk major, I believe that swim lane diagrams would be more useful, as they are very effective at showing each department’s responsibility in accomplishing the business task. These diagrams show the steps of the task at hand and the resources involved, and also are helpful in showing where a mistake occurs. In the insurance world for instance, when an auto or medical claim is filed by an insured, many steps take place in order to process that claim. Swim lanes could help display and coordinate this process by showing each department, such as claims, underwriting, legal, sales, and more.

I am currently a marketing major. In the marketing area, I believe ERDs would be most useful. This is because I think they show the most data and relations to each product/entities. Marketing requires a lot of data in order to fully understand how a product can sell to a specific audience and what that audience reacts best too. I think the swim lane diagrams would be more useful for supply-chain management or finance/banking positions because they are more straight-forward and help to see where everything flows to and from efficiently.

Currently I work in the Apple store, but I’m going toward a career in marketing. In either setting, ERDs seem like they could be used more often. On the SmartDraw Software site, I found ERD layouts for inputting marketing data. Marketing requires massive amounts of data to be collected, analyzed, and sorted. ERD systems for marketing can be used for a large range of projects in order to make the data easy to navigate and understand. ERDs would help with internal systems and employee information and marketing events and results. At the Apple store we use tons of systems, some of which are derived from other or merged together in order to make a process more efficient. I can only imagine how they implement and use them in the corporate sector.

Currently I work for a Casino as a server/bartender. I find that swimlanes are much easier to understand, but I do think that ERDs would be more useful. They ERDs could be split up into sections for the types of alcohol we use, the sections we have, the different bars and restaurants within the establishment, and etc. However, swimlanes could be used to show the process of ordering drinks, reporting them to the bartender, the bartender making the drinks, then the sever delivering the drinks. This could improve that process and possibly sort out any kinks or disruptions that may occur.

The swim lane diagram is a little easier to follow and would be my preference. However, as an accounting major, I believe that an ERD would be a more appropriate approach to diagramming the details in accounting. It would be a better visual for all the parts of the processes. Yet, for a big picture flow of cash a swim lane would be a great go to tool.

Swim lane diagrams seem to connect with me as a future entrepreneur. They break down easier and would be a great tool to help organize the business flow. They can be created quickly and would help understand where departments belong and how they will interact with each other on a daily basis. Keeping things organized and simple help with cash flow and order. Swim lanes will be a better addition to the way I would like to conduct business.

As an audit and account reconciler a swim lane diagram would be most helpful. Throughout the day I work with several other departments to fully complete a task. If the account isn’t able to reconcile at the end it is my job to research the history to see where it went out of balance. A swim lane would be helpful as a visual tool to quickly identify which department signed off on item as well as the next procedure when a task is or isn’t completed correctly. In turn, the item would not create a timely exception because it was tracked more efficiently.

In my current place of work, a swimlane diagram would probably work best because of their effectiveness. They show a step by step process of the task and are able to clearly show where mistakes occur, if they occur.

In my internship in insurance, I would think Swimlanes as a method of analyzing processes and using visuals to tell a story would be more beneficial for the employee benefits sector. I think this would be more effective due to the many department communications and projects that end up overlapping multiple roles and operations. With a visual to tell the story of how one task is completed could help newly acquired or transitioned employees in a respective department – great for new employees to understand at a high level.

I thought the most interesting fact was that we have four generations of people working side by side, because this has never happened before. I am amazed that there is so many different age groups in the workforce, and did not realize that our workforce was this diverse. I think to be successful in this economy, you need to be able to adapt to the fast paced environment, and be up to date on the changing technology. Everything is going computerized, and it is important for our business leaders to have a strong knowledge of new and improving technology.

I have seen this video before. I had watched this video in another class of mine while I was attending Cape Fear Community College. I found the statement at the end of the video when it said, “by the time a freshman becomes a junior half of the information they have learned about technology has become irrelevant and outdated,” incredibly fascinating. It is hard to believe that technology is advancing so rapidly that the turn over rate for new devices concepts and technology is so rapid. I grew up on desktops, and the pre smart phone cell phones, as well as systems like the Nintendo 64. So to be in a time where there is a new audio system, or a new game system, or new advances in cars, etc every few months floors me. To come from something so basic to an era where a computer can fit in your pocket is rather remarkable. This video definitely makes you take a step back and look at the bigger picture. I definitely think staying adapt to current technology is key to success for future or current business leaders. If you fall behind the times in regards to technology your appeal to a business will also decline because it is that new technology that will reach the market and the customers.

I found many things from the video to be interesting. However, the thing that I really found to be outstanding is that by the year 2020 there will be 10 million self-driving cars on the road. That is only three years from now! Skills that I think are essential for success in the digital economy, is quick learning, high adaptivity, and being able to multitask. Those are three things that I feel will be crucial as technology keeps rapidly growing.

There were quite a few facts in the video that I found astounding. China’s honor students totaling more than our population, four generations working together, and how quickly information becomes obsolete. When the video ended, I was left thinking about what the $1000 computer would “look like” in 2049 and would it be something that is integrated with humans. The idea of artificial intelligence (AI) becoming a reality is something that fascinates and frightens me at the same time. Movies like Ex Machina (If you haven’t seen it you should!) display mostly a grim outlook on our future with the rise of AI’s, but technology is already so ingrained into our everyday lives that AI concepts are not as far out as they may seem.

One of the most interesting facts I found is that 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook. I have never heard of it before. It seems like Facebook has become an essential part of each person’s life and now millions of people are using Facebook everyday. Technology in general has developed and communicated people more effectively than ever before. Skills that I believe are essential for success in the digital economy are coding, organizational skills and innovative thinking.

While any invention these days takes jobs away, the industry could spark a host of new jobs based off of self driving cars. Anyone is the workforce today who is not willing to adapt to the changes in the world, and in business in particular, will get left behind. I think it’s all about keeping relevant skills and knowing how to apply them across multiple industries.

There were a few points that I found very interesting in this video. The thought that we are currently preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist yet blew my mind. It just goes to show how fast changing technology truly is. Another point, like Michael already stated, is how for the first time in history we have 4 generations working side by side. I happen to have a lot of baby boomers in my office and I almost have to laugh at how many times a day I hear, “It’s those millennials that think….” I can’t wait to get back to work tomorrow and share this new fun fact with them. Also, the idea that if Facebook were a country, it would be the largest. Facebook, as we all know, sure has come a long way. I think back to 11 years ago when I first got Facebook because you needed a college email address to even sign up and now I have distant cousins and other family members that want to be friends. This video, and I am sure this class as well, just proves that you need to be able to adapt to change and be willing to continue to educate yourself to be efficient business leaders in this evolving technical world.

I was struck by how far the various generations of workers in the economy are spread out. My husband had commented on this within his corporation, but I had not realized the breadth of it. This fact has made me look at the next question in two different ways. Obviously the need to be willing to learn, adapt, and apply new and better technology is a key factor in being successful. If we, as businesses and people, do not strive to keep learning then we certainly cannot be competitive and eventually not even relevant. However, the other side of the issue is to not lose the ability to interact on a human level as well. Four generations in a workforce could be problematic without open-minded communication and a willingness to embrace new and sometimes old.

The most interesting information I learned in the video deals with jobs of the future. Today’s business leaders must be critical thinkers who can start to foresee jobs that don’t even exist yet. If professionals can start to do this, they can get ahead of the curve. The video says we need to start developing solutions for “problems we don’t even know are problems yet”. This is certainly one way of staying ahead.
The next bit of information was just as intriguing to me: 4 generations working side by side for the first time in history. As a business analyst intern, I worked with OLLI, a program for individuals ages 50+ who wanted to take classes with Temple University. In that scenario, communication was the most important part of doing my job working with IS. A millennial’s directions for using a system will typically be much different from those that a traditionalist or even a boomer would need to get a job done. In my opinion, the two most essential skills for success in the digital economy are 1) deeply familiarizing yourself with a system and 2) using the proper language and communication to help others adapt and understand the benefits of using those systems.

I thought the following quotes were the most interesting:

“The 25% of the population in China with the highest IQs is greater than the total population of North America… They have more honor kids than we have kids.” This is probably why people assume that all Chinese are very smart.

“10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020.” I find this hard to believe because 2020 is only 3-4 years away, and so far the tests of self-driving cars have been unsuccessful. I’m interested to see whether or not this comes true.

The map of the size of Facebook as the largest country was interesting. I’d heard that Facebook would be the largest country if it were one, but I hadn’t seen its size compared to other countries.

“1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook.” This shows that something so new to our lives can have such a large impact on how we live.

“It is estimated that a week’s worth of NY Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.” This is shocking, and I think this could be part of the reason so many people are stressed and/or depressed nowadays.

In order to be successful in a digital economy, I think it’s important to stay up-to-date and flexible. Digital economies change so rapidly that people must be open to accepting the changes.

The most interesting fact for me was that 75 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020. The video shows us that over 3 billion people use the Internet now. It means that 3 billion people use the Internet via devices such as desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Therefore, to connect 75 billion device to the Internet by 2020, all every electric devices will have the Internet access capabilities. It is something definitely going to happen, and it’s something that we can’t avoid. However, the pace of the technology growth and population growth scare me sometimes. As i grew up, I’d played with LEGO or other traditional games. Nowadays, children spend their time with playing games via tablets and smartphone.

I loved this video and found it very interesting. One fact highlighted that really sticks out to me is that we have 4 generations working side by side- Traditional, Boomer, GenX and Millennials. This multigenerational workforce is very diverse. Each generation has their own values, experiences and attitudes towards the work that they do which can sometimes be challenging. I think its important to keep the lines of communication open while building a culture of respect and understanding. One of many skills I find to be to be essential for success in the digital world is creativity. This industry is ever evolving and we must be able to adapt to the constant changes that are happening around us. The more that we can “think outside the box”, the more successful we will become.

I found it very interesting that the amount of technical information is doubling every two years, and that before students could complete their third year of school the information is out dated. I think one really has to stay ahead of technology it changes so quickly. Know soon as you become familiar with something here come a new platform to figure out. It does worry me if you’re not technical savvy you may no longer have a job.

I found it interesting that we are preparing today’s students for jobs that don’t yet exist. Technology depends on future generations to progress, and IS teaches us the skills we need to create the next wave of technology. Students need to be versed in ecommerce, and need to have at least a little bit of knowledge of how software works.

There are several facts I found interesting from the Did You Know? Video, such as that India & China have more children with higher IQ’s than we have kids going to school in the U.S altogether. This was interesting because about a month ago I read an article that discussed the high percentage of individuals with genius IQ’s in India, and the possible link between higher intelligence and brain development with certain foods, herbs, and their particular diet. Another fact I found interesting was that “it is estimated that a week’s worth of New York Times contains more info than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century”. With this said, I believe that as current and future business leaders we have to possess strong analytical skills, and stay up to date with the constant growth and improvement of programs that aim to improve our businesses and daily lives. However, at the same time, learn how to effectively tune out unnecessary information and technology as to not waste our time (cough cough candy crush).

I really enjoyed watching this video, and I found a few facts to be very striking. The first fact that I found to be interesting was that India and China both have more honors kids than we have people in our country. In my opinion, this fact is an indicator that Americans are at an inherent disadvantage when it comes to being successful in an increasingly digital economy because there is so much competition out there. Education will become increasingly essential if one has any hope of staying relevant in a digital world. I also found it fascinating that we are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, which again emphasizes my point that education is essential for shaping business leaders of the future. With 75 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020, and with 4 different generations in the workforce, keeping your mind open to learning new concepts and being adaptable to change are two essential skills to have in an ever-changing technological world.

I never really thought about it before watching this video is how human communication styles changed over the generations, myself included. My grandparents mailed things, My mom calls people, I email a lot and my children text. I now text more too due to my occupation with my younger technology driven customers. That was an eye opener of how technology changed our ways of doing a simple thing like daily communication. I also thought it is amazing how we are creating and preparing for things that has not been created yet…Just amazing…

I thought the most interesting fact was that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by 38. I think that in todays day in age- directly correlating to the video, life as we know it is constantly shifting and forever changing. Expanding further- today’s learner/student will need to take in and shift careers to excel and better themselves and their families for an income and also self-fulfillment. If there is something I need to learn and work on I try to embrace that topic and get what I can to better myself like this course for example. It is crazy to think that the first iPhone was delivered to the public in 2007! Imagine what will be in store for us ten years from now.

This video was very interesting, but what really got me thinking was when they talked about how professors especially in the technology field, are teaching students to prepare them for jobs that have not even been created yet. The entire concept of preparing students for things that are not even around yet, is really blowing my mind. However, as the video states technology is constantly changing. It will never be a stagnant field which is why we need student to study technology in order to be able to create new technologies for us to use. There was also another interesting fact that said once a student is a junior in college, half of what they have learned has become outdated. It is crazy to think that we are paying for an education just to learn outdated information, but at the same time it is important knowledge because we need to understand where technology came from and how it was created, in order to create our own vision for where we can personally take technology to the next level.

For the most interesting part of the video was that we have four generations working side by side. I found it interesting on a personal note because I now see it in my current work place and never really thought about it until watching the video, my eyes have been open. Never has there been a time where technology moved so fast and it has caused so a difference in the different generations. Going forward a key skill mainly for the baby boomers thru generation Y is the need to be adaptable. This will allow those generations to remain competitive among the younger generations coming into the work force that are used to seeing things change at a rapid pace.

To me, the most interesting things in the video were how quickly things are changing and the scale to which those changes impact us. These two factors are dependent of each other in almost every way. The rapid advance of our technology as a global entity has enabled us to grow to enormous populations. Compounded with this population growth, is the ability for more research to be done- resulting in scientific breakthroughs that help us to live longer, better, and richer, than our ancestors. With how rapidly things are changing, it really shows that the current and future generations of the world must strive to adapt to an ever changing world in order to stay viable. Therefore, the ability to change will probably be the most sought after skill for business and global leaders.

At first what struck me the most from this video was the prediction of ten million self-driving cars being on the road by 2020. Having only heard in most recent years of the testing phase of these vehicles, ten million being produced in three years seemed to be quite astonishing in my opinion. After looking into the testing of self-driving cars, it came to my attention that the first truly autonomous cars had appeared in the 1980s, at Carnegie Mellon with their project in 1984 and again in 1987 at a university in Munich. Still, having not successfully completed a full testing phase for self-driving cars, three years is a short amount of time to produce and distribute ten million.
With the times changing as quickly as they are, the most essential skill needed to keep up and be successful would be open-mindedness and the desire to learn. In order to move forward people need to accept that society is ever-changing, and they need to evolve with it or get left behind.

Almost all of these facts were extremely interesting and important to know for the future. But what the most interesting fact was, the fact that in this year, 83 million people will be born this year and they will be born into a data economy. It brought up an interesting idea as I’m sitting here, babysitting my little niece, who instead of spending time with her uncle, is staring into an ipad watching videos. I’ve noticed the dependency I have on technology like my laptop and my iphone, but for her, to see the way she reacts when an ipad is taken away from her is quite frankly disturbing. I understand it’s parenting but at the same time, I seem to think this will be the generation of more technology and less with physical communication.

But when it comes to the digital economy, this is where I feel her generation will strive. Surrounding yourself and familiarizing yourself with technology, the internet and even the basics that some don’t know, will benefit them a tremendous amount.

This was a very interesting video. I definitely was surprised by some of the information. The amount of people on Facebook is crazy! I love the degree to which technology advance but it definitely comes with a price. I can remember when you would pick up the phone and call someone that you wanted to talk to. Now much of the time conversation is through email and text messages. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly appreciate the convenience that comes with that however, I miss the human interaction sometimes. I run my own business and work from home most of the time. I have it set up that a customer can book an event completely online. Of course this was done to convenience my customers but I think great customer service is best done with human contact. Technology has made it so that many businesses today are done completely online. Sometimes I wonder if there will come a day that we are completely digital. I can’t remember the last time I have actually even been to a bank…….
I think it is very important to have advancement in technology as long as you don’t let it consume your life. It is imperative that you make time for human contact. Especially if you have a family. Our children watch everything we do even if you don’t realize it. I took my kids to the Crayola Experience the other day and was really taken back by the amount of parents that were on their phones, either face-booking, emailing, texting, or playing games. I get the kids were all playing and having a good time but as I watched and counted how many times the kids were trying to get the attention of the parents, I became sad….

This video has given more insight of how technology is advancing very rapidly. The advancement of the technology is increasing at a very rapid rate that it is getting harder to keep up with it. One of the facts that I found very interesting is that the information you study as a freshman in college will most likely be outdated by the time 3rd year gets around. It is becoming a part of an everyday life. Another thing that was shocking is that there are babies being born and trained for jobs that do not even exist yet. It is hard to believe that there are jobs that have not even been created for the growing population. My statement in the beginning holds true; its is getting harder and harder to keep up with technology at this evolving rate. I am not much of a technology person myself; I am more of an old-school type of person. I am attracted to having one-on-one contact, experiences beyond just images on Google and/or Facebook, knowledge beyond watching random TV shows, being active, etc. Even with the growing technology, I hope we don’t lose the experience of growing up while playing outside, adventures, reading and learning from actual books and much more.

This video gave more insight into how transient the world has become due to rapidly evolving technology. The most interesting point to me was that some of the information we learn in classes this year will become outdated in just a few years. Success may largely depend on the ability to adapt and continue learning new skills with technology, as learning after degrees and on the job training will be utilized more than ever in the future. The fact shown in the video that the average student today will have 10 plus different jobs by the age of 40 brings home the point that adapting to change will be key.

This is my first time viewing the video, but I’ve actually heard about it before. I felt as if the most interesting fact was also the most overlooked that’s occurring right now in the business world, having four generations side by side. I’ve actually encountered this, well I guess participated in this, during my summer internship. Additionally, but not primarily, I found it very interesting about the self driving cars as we had brought it up in lecture today and why insurance companies are nervous about the future and the reduction in need for auto insurance premiums to remain at the price they are at, as accidents will go down so will these premiums. One thing I thought I’d bring to the table, someone quoted how this advance in technology also sets back society – in a very weird way. Majority of organ donors unfortunately come from auto accidents, this advance in technology will also set back the donor inventory for organs. As a future business leader, I think it’s necessary to have a surface level understanding of everything. A diverse data set to a reasonable extent – with technology advancing in all industries for the sake of efficiency, it’s reasonable to expect business professionals to be jacks of all trades now in the digital economy.

I really enjoyed this video! In my opinion, the most interesting fact is that educators in the IT world are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist, using technologies that have not yet been invented in order to solve problems they don’t even know are problems yet. That is a mind blowing fact. This just proves how quickly technology is advancing and there will always be a future in it. As current or future business leaders one of the main skills to be successful in a digital economy is being adaptable and open to change. It is important to stay current and have a pulse on what the next digital move might be. Another skill that I think is important is balance. There must be a balance of human interaction and technology in the digital economy in order to be successful. A strong business leader would utilize technology in order to incorporate human interaction rather than hide behind a computer or mobile device.

This video has such a “wow” factor and there are so many pieces to the puzzle of the modern technological society we are in. Children are being born into a computer age, and parents like myself, have to adjust to a new dynamic of raising them so that they are prepared for the future. Yet, like the video stated, we are preparing them for jobs that don’t exist, using technologies that haven’t been conceived yet, for problems that we don’t know are problems. I also found it interesting that with the doubling of technological information every 2 years, the education our children receive will be outdated before they can graduate. How do we keep up with the tech times? I think as business leaders in any industry, we would have to find the balance between technology and an “old school” type of socialization. Fast paced technology is an amazing, creative tool and asset, especially when you can combined with a firm handshake.

As a side note, I found it humorous and, slightly, humiliating that the top 25% with the highest IQ’s in China outweigh the entire population of North America.

The fact that for the first time ever four generations are in the work force together was interesting. It shows that people are retiring later, which means people need to save more often and that communication between the four generations is vastly different but everyone must adjust and adapt to each other in order to accomplish things…This Silver Suffer! I know I just said it but, the ability to adjust and adapt and communicate will be three critical skills people all must learn to have in this digital economy. If you don’t adjust (or change) your technology, you’ll be left behind, if you don’t adapt to the newest trends in technology and marketing, you’ll be left behind and most importantly if we don’t communicate effectively with each other, you’ll be left hind.

The exponential growth that technology has had since the 18th century is tremendous. This reminds me of a video I watch recently of a guy doing a mock trial to argue that there needs to be a change in the educational system. His opening statement was the difference in technology, and other advancements over the past 500 years or so but our classrooms look the same. It is hard to know what will be coming in the future but it is also important to change the way we teach and educate the next generation in order to keep up. Pointing out the IQ and the amount of honors kids in the US vs. China really helps put things into perspective. Additionally, population growth increases these numbers which helps fuel technological advancements. If our college kids will soon be learning information that will soon be outdated I can only conclude that this trend will continue on to high schools, middle schools and elementary schools over time.

After watching this video I think it is so interesting how many Google searches are done monthly and how we almost replace the words “look up” or “research” with just the search engine name of Google. I think this is so interesting because students around our age at Stanford University started Google as a research project. As current or future business leaders, I believe the skills essential  for success in the digital economy are really just keeping up with new technology and the continuance of furthering our education. The video also said by the time a class of new freshmen come in the information current juniors learned is already outdated. This really proves the need of the continuance of our education and the need to stay involved with current world advances.

One of the facts that really stuck out was that half of the information we learn in our freshman year is outdated by our junior year. It only drives home the fact that we are entering an age of continuous education. I’ve already had a new edition of a textbook be outdated by the time the course began (to be fair, it was a tax course, so those regulations change at the drop of a hat). I can’t imagine that I’m going to have to re-learn things from earlier in my education by the time I get close to finishing my degree. It then comes as so surprise we’re teaching our children how to solve problems that don’t even exist yet.

I thought that the most interesting fact was that there are 1.55 billion monthly active Facebook users worldwide. I think that Facebook is very unique in the fact that it can feel both very local and personal while also connect people all over the world. I went to school with many foreign exchange students so my newsfeed often has posts from South Korea and Thailand and Germany right next to a post reporting an accident that took place 5 minutes down the road. It’s staggering to think of how many people access Facebook regularly.

By using the ERP system at the onset of opening a new business, it would be beneficial to me in areas of sales and expenses. The lower the expenses, the better. In addition, since I would be anxious to see a profit early on, this system may provide me with an incentive of not giving up, especially since it would be possible to view and monitor the potential profits, regardless of how small it is.

An ERP system is good to have in any company since it supports multiple functions used by different business units. Instead of forcing employees to maintain separate databases and spreadsheets, an ERP will allow them to pull all that information from one system. It will benefit me in the future, for example, if I work for a company that gets lots of sales orders, those orders will automatically flow into the financial system without me having to key in every single thing, then the order department can process orders more quickly and accurately, and the finance department can close the book faster.

the ERP system is very helpful for companies with huge order amount and stock management. It could lower the labor cost and keep everything in record. More importantly, it could be highly efficient with high order dealing speed and ensure a fast coordination within departments. Business process could be more logical and clear for anyone to operate in this system and also convenient to check the past record if necessary.

Using a ERP system at the beginning of an real estate and property management business can help me in the administrative system. An ERP system can calculate the and keep with the lease agreements for each rental property. As well maintain the pricing and contracts for the laborers for the flipping properties. As many projects are done the same time, the system will run without me calculating per project at one time.

I realized that at my work we use an ERP system in recording the customers information, their credit cards, their past transaction history and they are all accessible to the employers at the store, another store as well as human resource and head quarters. It is useful in cases that where they travel and they don’t need to make separate accounts for each store or they are able to bring up a past transaction without a receipt with just their phone number. It helps the company earn money because we are providing easy service for them, which gives them a reason to keep bringing business.

As a marketing student that would definitely strive to work for an international marketing firm, I believe a successful implementation of an ERP could provide worthwhile benefits to such an organization. In our content we learned the vast amount of functions that ERPs are capable of and the functions that they simplify as well. In a globalized landscape, it would be crucial to be able to track orders that have been made in different languages, convert currencies, and disseminate information accurately and effectively to regions across the world. An effective ERP solution seems to be able to cover those bases provided that the implementation is correct for the enterprise in question.

As a Human Resource major I could use the ERP in its simplest form to better implement policies or functions in the work place to increase efficiency. For instances During training or hiring there may be particular areas that are not necessarily needed during the training process that are costly and take up much time that limit workplace resources. It also could tell us how many employees are needed in specific areas of the business which can lower administrative costs. ERP can also be used to better manage overall functions in the workplace for better efficiencys and lower costs.

By implementing an ERP into the functions of a company, it can add an immense amount of efficiency so that business is not interrupted by having multiple systems needing to be double checked to ensure all data is up to date. I could use the ERP as a HR major by allowing it to be connected to all different departments of the organization. This will allow us to know when departments need new hires, keep up with complaints and in general keep all data in one place so it is easy to get to.

An ERP system can be extremely beneficial in the restaurant business in order to better keep track of everything. By combining the different inventories of the multiple restaurants and their various departments such as the bar, kitchen, and accounting cost. This also helps managers have more information available to them to make business decisions. The lower cost would also be beneficial to increase profit and allow budgetting in other departments or for repairs.

ERP is the one of the most efficient tools I have ever seen about the method that solve business problem. It effectively lower the cost and improve productivity. I am learning accounting this semester, and the ERP diagram will be perfect to reduct inventory. With too many focusing on procedure and implement effort, the cost saving can not achieve companies’ anticipation. But with ERP diagram, the procedure has less measurement and can achieve higher productivity.

As an accounting major I think ERP will be beneficial in my career. I work at a bank and we reconcile different bank recs on the daily but some of these recs are linked together. So using an ERP diagram would do that and make our job much easier. We also need ERP for our credit card systems and wires that we transfer both domestically and internationally. We could convert different currencies and even keep members credit card transactions in order. I thin ERP diagrams could be beneficial in any field and make the process for workers easier.

An ERP could really help in my future finance career. It would help automate and streamline several financial operations that a corporation would need to do. It could also provide real time analysis as new data is acquired. The value of the ERP would be in its translation to accurate forecasting as it would reduce the risk in financial and business activities.

The implementation of an ERP system according to the reading is a costly system to implement. The benefits of an ERP system is it gives the real time view of data, improves financial compliance with regulatory standards and reduces risk, automates core business operations and can enhance customer service. In the field of business I currently work, an implementation of an ERP system would benefit the company in my opinion, If we were able to implement certain parts of the business, while excluding others. The only risk is its a 50/50 chance that it could also have a negative impact on the business as well as a whole or in certain areas. I think its worth the chance, based on the research, we’d be able to increase production, manufacturing and distribution. As well as a real time financial system.

Using ERD systems in a business can be helpful in many of areas such as customer service and human resources. By using an ERD system, it lowers the cost of productivity. I used to work for the HR department at Target and we used SAP a lot. We used SAP to maintain all of the employees and keep all information organized. It was extremely helpful to use because there is a large amount of employees and it would be hard to keep track of all their information with an ERD system.

I would like to eventually leave the hospitality industry upon finishing my degree here at Temple, but ERDs are great for hospitality businesses such as restaurants. Keeping track of the information, such as email address, average spending, most common order, and other information related to frequent customers can give the business a better grasp of what will be required to cater to these customers. This information can also be used to predict inventory requirements and forecast sales.

The organization I work for is looking to provide Management Information to various business leaders that will help to redefine the company’s sales payment scheme, and to develop rules around workforce planning. The challenge is “marrying” the finance data (sales and profit numbers) with HR & Payroll data. This information will be used to gain insights on certain trends (such as average headcount by revenue/operating income, or average total compensation including base and variable pay), and will help to design the future model. An ERP system would allow for simplified reporting of the various parameters needed to make assessments.

I work at Wawa. When we do inventory, an ERP would be ideal to measure both consistency in sales of specific items as well as identify non-selling items. This enables me, as a manager in charge of ordering more, to be efficient and save money when ordering certain amounts of each item. By learning the activity in which items are sold, it can help the company as a whole by saving money and repurposing shelf space for better items.

The use of an ERP system can be useful in my future career in the RMI industry. It would be useful by being able to integrating, identify and analyze all data when viewing particular risks and loss exposures that occur in businesses and to individuals as well as how these risk and losses effect the overall business process of insurance. With new risk forming everyday, and the ERP systems being able to give a global and real-time view of data, it can allow companies to address the growing concerns correctly, and in a timey manner.

At my previous place of employment we used an ERP system throughout the entire work place. There were multiple computers set up with software that employees had to log into at the beginning of their shifts which allowed for less confusion and employee accountability. Under our employee ID’s anyone who logged into the system could see which employees were with clients, which clients made payments and which employee authorized that payment. The software also kept track of clients payment methods and any personal requests. The information for daily quotas automatically sent to our employee headquarters in Baltimore.

Rather than utilizing ERP in a future career, I can think of a past position in which I utilized inventory management software. As a Visual Merchandiser at a large grocery retailor, I had the opportuniry to utilize an automatic reordering system that prepared an order quantity, based on the quantity checked out at the POS. I would then implement the order request by first verifying the need for order fulfilmment. I would either add or subtract from the lot quantity as needed. The order would then go through to the wholesaler. This type of resouece planning allowed for more efficient ordering of necessary grocery items. Rather than walking each aisle and examining each shelf for needed merchandise, I was able to utilize a handheld device that directed my walk to each location.

Though ERD systems are a costly addition to any business, it is most of the time worthwhile. ERD systems provide businesses with organized data that aids in more productivity. An ERD system will definitely come in handy for me in the future when I seek to start my own business. It will be a relief to have as it will allow me to evaluate all of the business data in a more concise way.

As a supply chain management major, i think that utilizing an ERP can be very beneficial in the tracking of orders. Whether it be the tracking of past customers or current employees, an implemented ERP would make the process more fluent. Also, it could assist in the reduction of in-transit risk losses.

ERP’s can use multiple programs at once, which keeps everything organized and together. Also, basically any company can use this because it has different functions such as product planning, manufacturing, purchases, etc. I could definitely see these being a huge part of the service industry. It is also a lot cheaper than other methods and can raise your production. It can really help you to grow and expand your company efficiently.

At my previous work place, we used an ERP system to record information. ERP system is not just helpful for big companies but small companies and businesses as well. What is even better is that using an ERP system is not expensive compared to many other systems.

Currently, I am a manager/bartender of a small business. The use of ERP’s could benefit my small business in a number of ways. An ERP would help new workers and old workers the same by being able to access various customer information through the use of the same computer; i.e. a bartender may be able to access a customer’s information to find out their particular choices in drink or food. This knowledge would allow for the employee ample preparation in order to offer excellent service.

I am planning to be a tax accountant in the future after I take the CPA exam, and the ERP diagram can help me to set up and observe the whole management process easier at a glance. If I hire employees, I should know what they are doing exactly and the employees also should know what each person is doing for the company. The ERP is really essential for the realizing the whole process.

In the pharmaceutical industry ERP’s are beneficial. They can track inventory, sales, production expenses, and various other aspects of the industry. The ERP systems keep the different departments within a company organized. Also, all the information within the company is tracked and valid.

An ERP system would be useful for my future Risk Management career. It could be used to help with identifying a risk and the loss that might occur from that risk by being able to view all the data associated with it. With a new cyber risk emerging rapidly for businesses, the ERP system being able to give a real time view of data, it can allow for businesses to identify and plan for these risks very quickly.

After doing the readings I have realized how much ERP can help in any industry. I work at a manufacturing plant that does currently use SAP. Before this class, I never realized that our company was using an ERP at all. I do not normally work closely with ERP, but have come to find out that it makes our company run smoothly. It is used across the board from planning and scheduling to inventory, to accounts payable and receivable. By having this system as the backbone, it creates a true view of my company’s status. It enables our company to have one system that contains all of the information, instead of going from database to database to connect the supplier to the incoming and all the way to the customer.

Specifically, the swimlane diagrams. I was not aware how useful they are or how often these diagrams are used. Recently, I have noticed both types, swimlanes and ERD’s are used in my division. However, I believe that the ER diagrams would be easier to use vs the swimlanes, simply because it gives specific information, such as name, dept. employee ID, etc. that is often used in an organization when identifying an employee’s information/status. In addition, students could specialized in various areas of MIS accompanied by some fantastic benefits. I have already begun to encourage young adults in my division to focus their careers in MIS and take advantage of the various opportunities available accompanied by the highest level of success that could be achieved.

For me it was the swimlane diagrams and ERDs. Because I am the type of person who plans, organizes and likes to write out/map out all details I see how that would be a great asset to me in my personal life, and also at work. The visuals that the diagrams provide and for the ERDs, the specific points that is gives to its audience really makes things clear and concise for those who in some way, shape or form take a part of the process.

Before I take this MIS course, I was planning a project/procedure by just listing things randomly such as the branstorming. It is hard to see the whole process easily at a glance. After I learned the ERD and the swimlane diagrams, it became much easier to set steps for the project. Moreover, I can visualize and understand rapidly by looking at the diagrams to tell each step. And it is very easy to catch the mistake since it is all divided into sections such as departments, customers, etc.

Something interesting that I have pulled from the readings is that each business has its own set of specific business rules that allow the business to function. What I didn’t realize is that these rules can be overlooked as just simple functions however without them, the business would not run efficiently. Also, I found it interesting how each rule answers a question that can have multiple outcomes and can easily be depicted by a visual known as a decision tree.

After learning about the swim lane diagrams, it’s was interesting to me to see how often you can use them. You can use them for so many different things. I work for an insurance company and we could use a swimlane diagram to show the process of how a policy goes into effect and all the different steps it goes through before it is actually in force. Swimlane diagrams make it easy to show a process and it explains its well. The way that the diagram flows make it easy to see exactly what happens and when it happens.

Something interesting that I pulled from the readings was definitely the swim lane diagrams. I never knew how useful they were for so many different things prior to taking this class. I work in retail and there’s a lot of customer service that goes with it and I find them very useful when training new associates on the things as simple as using the cash register to processing online orders for customers. The diagram makes it easy to understand each step by step process.

Something interesting that I pulled from the readings was how MIS professionals are in so many different industries assisting with technology such as the healthcare and banking industries. I also found it interesting that there are so many different options for MIS professional to do when they earn their degree. I always thought that MIS professionals built software, but from the very beginning of the semester and by studying for the exam it was reinforced that MIS professionals will not directly build computer programs but they will direct computer programmers on what to build which I found was interesting.
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One thing I haven’t thought about before and that I wasn’t even knowledgeable of was is the Swim Lane diagram and the ER diagram. I learned these are 2 key and essential tools in not just t,he business process, but can be applied in many different circumstances. I was able to use the Swim Lane in one of my recent meeting, to explain certain processes that we go through and how to improve them. This just reinforced my interest in this subject and the different areas that MIS applies to. Through some of these processes I feel that my personal business ventures would profit greatly from this essential information.

That might be the first time I realize how important the swim lane diagram is. When I look at the document, there are too much words and makes me feel that this is a complicated process. However, once I use swim lane diagram to decompose it, I suddenly find it just composed of some simple pieces. Also, I finally know there is a huge difference between IT and IS!

I prepared for the exam by doing the study guide. I made sure to fill in all the fill in the word paragraphs and study those key terms. I also read the readings and pulled out the interesting things I found. Some of them were what is MIS because before taking this class I had no idea what it actually was and what they do. I also found the difference between IT and IS interesting because I assumed they were the same thing. Lastly I went over ERD and Swim lane diagrams because I knew those would be on the exam.

One thing I thought about while studying for the exam was the importance and usefulness of Swim Lane Diagrams and Entity Relationship to expedite even the most simple of business practices. Sometimes, the information involved seems like common knowledge, but having an ERD or SWD on hand can save valuable time when sharing information or locating a potential problem. Also, I thought about how the importance of the use of technology by a firm has increased dramatically over the past few decades. I wonder what the technological business landscape will look like in another two decades.

This course makes me realized for the first time how a diagram could make things so much easier when words might make it harder. In terms of the explaining the business process and demonstrate its operation logic, I always intended to use descriptive narrative for a detail instruction. But after taking this course, i found out diagram, especially Swim Lane Diagram could make things so much easier.

The main revelation I’ve had while taking this course is the sheer value of MIS in all aspects of business. In today’s world of data, having a strong MIS foundation is necessary for a business’s success. I can now perceive how MIS has relevance in Marketing, Finance, Management and just about all other department’s of business. Also, we’ve learned how MIS can make processes more efficient by the use of diagrams such as the swim-lane diagram and ERD’s. Overall, it is intriguing how MIS makes a business better and more efficient. My perspective has changed and I would like to have some experience with MIS in real time!

That technology and business can be intertwined. Specifically, using systems in the business aspect to train and inform stakeholders of company’s processes and functions. I was very surprised that organizations would use these systems. One benefit is that they can be used to eliminate costly functions in a system.

Before taking this MIS class, I never realized how much more efficient a company can become after using process mapping, swimlane diagrams, and ERDs. Using these diagrams lets a company look at their own process and determine any holes, inefficiencies, or areas that need to worked on. Just as important, they let other companies see just how efficient and well ran an organization is. When traveling to another company, I will now be taking note on any use of these diagrams.

While preparing for the exam, the swim lane diagram finally started to click for me. At first I never thought how complicated a large paragraph worth of explanation could be or how much detail is missed until i started making the diagrams. They definitely help to break it down in a way that is easy to understand and full of details. I also have a better understanding of how they can be applied for presentation in a business meeting.

Prior to studying, I was having trouble connecting the different components of an ERD diagram. Through readings and our review session I was able to thoroughly understand not only how each component coincides with one another, but why and how we can utilize ERD diagrams, as well as Swimlane diagrams, into real life business scenarios. This put it into perspective which enabled me to do much better on those questions during the exam. Also, seeing visual aids allows me to learn and comprehend information at a more efficient rate.

Something interesting that I pulled from the readings while preparing from the exam are the swim lane diagram, ERD, and MIS professionals. I have never seen or learned about swim lane diagram or ERD before and I never know those two diagrams are so helpful and so important in business. Also before taking MIS class, I know very basic things about MIS and I never know that MIS professionals can work in many different industries.

What stood out for me was the swim lane diagrams. I was already writing down processes for some of my classes and when I used to organize them it used to be unorganized. But after learning about the swim lane, I’m also able to add additional information that the swim lane incorporates and it helps me understand processes better.

I knew of the concept of swim lane diagrams before this class but I thought that it would always be simple to construct them. It turns out you really have to dissect the intricacies of the entire process. If something, even if it just a tiny step, is accidentally missed or glanced over it could really affect the overall quality and effectiveness of the swim lane.

Swimlane diagrams and ERD’s were much more complicated than I thought. It’s crazy that one simple step or process can totally change the whole thing. That is what I struggled with. But, I feel that these will be useful in the near future and for anybody who’s running a business. These diagrams can help you to be more organized if you understand how to use them.

Not only did the efficiency of process mapping stand out to me, but also MIS in general. The majors offered and the career path to follow stood out to me because it’s evolving. Prior to taking this class, I was unaware of the career paths that people take from the different degrees earned concerning information systems. As well as an evolving field, it is very much needed.

One of the things that became more evident to me while preparing for the exam was the scope of versatility of the various diagrams from the unit. The swim lane diagrams are specifically versatile, and their ability to convey (sometimes) complex processes in a streamlined, understandable visual is very valuable. I also found that the decision tree diagrams can be very helpful in conveying business processes in a comprehensive yet simple way. I have a current project I am working on in which I need to lay out business rules for a new system function and I intend to use these tools (wish me luck ;))!

I had a general idea of what swim lanes and ERDs were, however, while studying for the same I paid more attention to the ERD. I’m not a big fan of ERDs because it seems more complicated than Swimlanes. Swimlanes are more straight to the point. ERDs are more confusing with the entity and attributes. Now, ERD is not as confusing to me. I think I am getting the hang of it a little.

At the risk of being redundant, I will again refer to the use and practicality of the swim lane diagrams. When compared to the ERDs, I still feel that the swim lane diagram offers any user the ability to follow a process. A user with little-to-no experience can easily identify the actors, the steps, and the decisions that are made throughout an entire process.

I found that system architecture is the conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and different views of a system interesting.

I also think the learning about the use of swim lane diagrams and ERD’s were a few of the more interesting things i have pulled from the reading since joining this course. I previously had no knowledge of them and it is interesting to me how someone with no previous knowledge can become accustom to them quite quickly. The steps are visual and easy to follow throughout the process.

I found the conceptual map very interesting and useful. I feel like I will actually use it in my future presentations. I also really like the ER diagram, I think it explains really well the steps and data.

Per our previous discussions I bet you could guess which I intend to choose.

I believe that swim lane diagrams (SWD) are more beneficial for several reasons; the deconstructing of processes via SWD can give rise to shortfalls in how a certain activity is done, it can also identify redundancies and possible disconnects that could be remedied using the SWD as a roadmap to the process. In addition, the SWD can be used as a training tool for new employees, as it is tangible way to create standard operating procedures to ensure that no matter who does the job, it is being done in the correct manner. Another benefit of the SWD is that if there is a quality issue, the SWD can be used in reverse to find where something may have gone wrong in the process.

ERD’s are a necessary part of the data collection side of business, but once you identify the data to be collected and the relationship between entities, its usefulness declines significantly.

I think swim lanes are more beneficial because 1) they are widely used in most organizations, especially when listing the overall staffing organization in showing how each management member is responsible for a group/groups of employees. 2) The diagram is easily understood and there is no guess work in how to connect each box, such as the ERD’s. Each swim lane symbol- circle (actor), rectangle (activity in process), arrow (flow of the process), diamond (decision making) and cylinder (stored data) denotes a specific action. Clearly, no sign of becoming confused or repeating things twice. I can use swim lanes as a point of contact –list of primary contacts for general or business purposes or a blueprint to create a new business idea or refurbish an old one with enhancement. For fun, I could use it to organize various hobby interests while keeping track of my inventory.

In my opinion, swim lane diagrams are more beneficial because they show a process and we are easily able to understand it. In ERD, there are information given to each entity that are not required during a process and it hard to determine if an attribute is required. But while using swim lane we can start with an actor doing a specific activity and how the activities flow between actors, and the required information needed for each activity is given. It makes it clear for the reader to understand the process step by step. I can start using swim lane diagrams in my legal studies class in which there are many processes involved, like a case start from a plaintiff filing a complaint and ending in a district court or even higher.

In my opinion, swim lane diagrams are the most beneficial because they use lanes that are assigned an actor (individual, department, division, group, machine, or entity) making it easy to follow the process of certain work or activities. A swim lane diagram flows very well and explains each step. One way that I could start using a swim lane diagram today would be at my job. I work for an insurance company and we could use a swim lane diagram to explain the process of how a policy is created and the steps it takes before an insured gets a policy.

I think that the swim lane diagrams are more beneficial. ERDs are important however before you can start gathering information, you should know if the process or system you are using is any good. Swim lanes allow for this to happen. It allows you to see if any of the steps within the system are redundant or don’t make sense which should be the initial priority. I can start using swim lanes in my everyday life. With something as simple as running errands, I can use a swim lane to figure out the most direct route that would make the day go smoother.

I believe that swim lane diagrams are more beneficial than ERDs. I believe this because the lanes which are assigned to a particular actor such as an individual, group, or division allows one to see who or what is in charge/responsible for a particular activity, or task. The flow of the diagram is particularly easy to follow, and always for an easy way to identify different phases in a particular business process. It is also very beneficial to be able to determine problems when they arise when going through a process or completing an activity/task and swim lane diagrams always one to identify problems, redundancies, and inefficiencies during the process, and not after they have already occurred. I also think swim lane diagrams are beneficial because they are not complicated to design and can be made fairly quickly if need be in order to complete a task in a timely manner.

Using the swim lane tool is more beneficial than the ERD tool. The swim lane divides and organize specific duties for each part of the organization. It is very easy to clarify what each department is functioning for the company. Also, they are all stated step by step, so you can just follow up the process to figure out the whole project at a glance. The swim lane can be used for anything that requires the step-by-step process.

I find that the swim lane is utilized more the ERD. In the industry I work in there are many lengthy, detailed tasks that most be performed correctly or the company could lose money. The swim lane breaks down a process and provides decisions for different circumstances. I have found that the swim lane is very beneficial in a manufacturing plant.

I find that swim lane diagrams are the most beneficial. I think this because it is easier to follow; it divides all the steps up and lets you know which step to take and when to take it. It lets you know where your start and end is and which direction to go to get there. I also like that you can create a swim lane for everything and make the process of following steps and directions much easier even in a complicated situation.

I believe that swim lane diagrams are more beneficial. Not only do they provide detailed information about different roles played within a certain situation, they are also concise and to the point. Swim lane diagrams can be used for many things if not everything. For example, a student may find it useful to make a swim lane diagram to map out the school year detailing the classes they are taking and how they will affect their choice of classes going forward.

Based on the diagrams we’ve been learning I would have to say the swim lane diagram is a more detailed and overall more beneficial than the Entity Relationship Diagram depending on the type of information we are classifying. The Entity Relationship Diagram according to the research is better suited with complex database used in software engineering and IT networks. While its counter part, the Swim Lane Diagram can be used in almost every aspect of the business, to eliminate redundancies by simplifying the process and clearly mapping it out until the desired result . Swim Lane Diagram are easier to map out and comprehend with the right guidance, and can be used in most situations dealing with problem solving. So basically the Swim Lane Diagram can be used in almost everyday situations, to assist in solving something as simple as a study schedule, all the way up to a outline for a small business.

Of the tools we’ve reviewed so far in class, I think swim lane diagrams are the most beneficial because it shows all the details within the information that flows across multiple departments or groups. They not only help you see problems, but they also help you fix them and apply the right situation to the right problem. ERD’s are beneficial as well, but only if it is dealing with a more complex database. A swim lane diagram is useful in helping clarify responsibilities and help departments work together in a world where departments often don’t understand what the other departments do.

I definitely believe that the use of Swim Lanes is the most beneficial diagram/process to use. It provides a more thorough and concise breakdown of the “process” and the “What ifs” that can take place during the process. It also provides a summary on the flow of how day to day processes and back end steps are taken and where the responsibility lies for each entity.
I can actually use them in the process of preparing and organizing the “Blocks” {6-8 week process/curriculum} for the 2nd year Medical Students. The Swim Lane will give clear direction on each step and what action can be taken for each, as well as what person/department handles each step. I also feel that I can use this in keeping track of household chores/issues that may arise and this will allow everyone to be in the same place with clear direction on who is responsible for each thing.

I think the Swim Lane Diagrams are the most useful and practical process we’ve learned thus far. Swim Lanes can be used for a variety of functions to analyse the process of which things are done and who does them. For me personally I think a swim lane would be practical to use in my current organization that I work for because it would lay out the duties and responsibilities for each employee more clearly. I work for a nonprofit organization and its easy for jobs to overlap into multiple departments. Having a clear view of who should be doing what is important to any successful organization or business.

Swim lane diagrams are more beneficial than ERDs. Swim lane diagrams are most widely used and provide the greatest clarity for each organizations. ERDs are sometimes up to more subjection than Swim lane diagrams where the direction of each actor within the organization’s process remains the same. They depict department responsibility and where the direction of the responsibility goes next. For organizations they can easily look up sections in their flow if failures occur in order to fix the issue or edit responsibilities to further function.

I find that Swim lane diagrams can be much more useful than ERDs. The structure and organization from a Swim lane diagram is unparalleled. While the ERDs have no true beginning or end point, the swim lane diagram gives a step-by-step instruction as to how to execute each task depending on the previous step. I’m not entirely sure how I can go about utilizing the swim lane diagram in my current job, but hopefully it can be very beneficial after college.

I think the swim lane diagram is the tool among all that makes me feel most easy to use and most beneficial for an organization because SLD could help an organization to figure out the process of the business, make all departments understand what other departments are doing, and most importantly, SLD show the process with its logic. If there is any unreasonable logic existed in this process, it is very easy to find out where it is and optimize the process. Further more, it could be applied to many organizations and many other situations.

Personally, I find swim lane diagrams to be more beneficial than entity relationship diagrams.. At work, I have been using SLDs at times to visualize the process of receiving and selling inventory between our restaurant locations. I had been using them for a few years, before I took this class and knew the specifics of SLDs. If anything in the shipping process went wrong, we were able to pinpoint the actor that did not complete their task fairly quickly. Also, I personally find SLDs to be easier to navigate than the data in ERDs, While ERDs can be extremely useful in certain fields and businesses, that is not necessarily the case at my current job.

Swim lane diagrams are used at my current employer. Therefore, for me, I would have to say that the swim lane diagram is more beneficial. Using the swimlane diagram lets you diagram an entire process from the start to the finish. Through using the Swimlane diagram my company can divide into several categories and departments. In an example, I work in a machine shop in the quality department. Using a swimlane diagram you could see the flow and process of a part from receiving inspection(quality) to a lathe department or milling department. You could follow it all the way back to quality in the end to shipping to the customer. By following the swimlane you can see if there any unnecessary steps along the whole process. I will continue to use the swimlane diagrams at my work, but could also see the opportunity to using the ERD.

I believe that both swim lane diagrams and ERD’s are very effective in their own way and provide much needed information. Personally, as we have practiced these two different diagrams i have found it more interesting to complete an ERD because of the specific information for each entity that is labeled throughout the diagram which may not always be found in a swim lane. However, in terms of which diagram may seem more beneficial to everyone swim lane would be my choice because it is much more readable and to the point. The swim lane diagram can be used by any business that wants to establish a plan or goal and set a process that they need to follow in order to get to their goal. For example, recently i sat down with my academic advisor in order to plan for the future. We discussed which courses must be taken at a certain time (prerequisites) so that i will be able to then take other courses in the future. In making a swin lane diagram, i could have certainly mapped out the options i could take towards eventually meeting my goal, graduation.

I think that swim-lane diagrams are the most beneficial. A lot of companies use these diagrams and for me personally it is easier to read and comprehend than a ERD. It is also easier to keep track of inventory and to be able to find a problem within it. It is also better organized and has columns for each individual actor or subject. If I ran a company I would definitely use a swim-lane diagram. It would also be a lot easier to teach it to my employees than a ERD. I’m sure ERD’s are good for a lot of specific things, but overall SWD’s are just better, at least in my opinion. ERD’s have more steps so it is also easier to make a mistake if you are using it.

In my opinion, the most beneficial tool that we have covered thus far is the Swim Lane Diagram. The Swim Lane Diagram offers a more direct approach to following how a system works, as well as making the necessary corrections to the system if it is not operating at its full potential. I also find that the Swim Lane Diagrams are much easier to follow than the ERD, which allows for a person with little to no experience to identify each individual actor, activity, or decision within the system, and follow the process throughout its entirety.

When it comes to personal application, I have already used a swim diagram at work. I am a manager and bartender of a small business. I recently used a Swim Diagram to point out a flaw in our operating procedure to my general manager and the business owner. We are currently taking steps in order to rectify the hiccup.

Of the diagrams we have discussed as a class, I would have to strongly consider the ERD as the most beneficial and useful. I believe this to be the most beneficial because of it ability to give a framework to entities, organizations, and communication. Specifically, it gives us a clearer definition or understanding of a what an entity can and should be, as well as its role within many types of organizations, from the laissez faire to the more disciplined of organizations. In addition to this, it illustrates the more efficient ways in which each entity can communicate in order to accomplish end goals. As for the utility of Entity Relationship Diagrams, it allows us to better work on something as simple as a group project, in which each member may have different skill sets or a more complex project in an organization. For example, multiple departments may need to interact with one another based on actual unit sales and costs. The accounting department can receive efficient communication from production, subsequently relaying the information to the receivable/payables department.

As we saw in class last week, both the Swim Lane Diagrams and the Entity Relationship Diagrams can be used in tandem to demonstrate, clarify, establish and improve processes. After working through our group “cake” exercise together, and using these two diagrams, I believe that both can be equally beneficial depending on the process/result the user is trying to achieve. Incidentally, these two learnings have helped me greatly with recent projects at work. One involves using Swim Lane Diagrams to review and improve upon various business process due to a reorganization, and the other involves using ERD’s to establish processes related to the creation of a new data warehouse that will collect information from various systems and produce outputs. As you can imagine, our class readings and exercises have been key for me… and perfect timing ;)!

Both the Swim Lane Diagram and the ERD are beneficial. I believe that based on the primary purpose of developing a diagram, determines which one is best for one to use. Personally, for my businesses and school activities, Swimlane would be my best choice. It is easier for me to use and I can see myself finding much pleasure in creating swim lanes with the various tools and software. However, I believe that I can use ERDs for my businesses in the future in which I would have employees. Here is ERD, in my opinion, would be more beneficial for me because I would be able to employees and their information with the proper id.

I believe ERD’s are more beneficial especially when needing to collect and categorize data. An ERD can be extremely helpful as a way to start a database for an event or firm. I could use an ERD in order to figure out what data I need to collect from people to succeed in housing out of chapter brothers of my fraternity for our annual philanthropic soccer tournament. It would make it much easier to organize all the names and contact information I need to pair with brothers from my chapter.

Both diagrams have their place within data analytics and both can be used to achieve a different portrayal of systems. ERD’s can effectively convey systems regarding databases or used to organize systems from a data analytics perspective. SWD’s can clearly display the different actors within a process and what they are responsible for. SWD’s seem more simple to understand in most cases and can be used to simplify a process to onlookers who might not be privy or interested in the finer details of a process. I believe the restaurant I am currently employed at, can use a SWD diagram to better divide responsibilities between servers, bussers, and the kitchen staff.

Of all the diagrams I think the swim lane diagram would be most beneficial to me because I could use it in my everyday activities to help me prioritize my tasks. I could use swim lane diagrams to help me decide which tasks at work to complete first. by using a swim lane diagram I could see the outcomes of each decision I make. this could help me in the future when I need to make similar decisions. I think the swim lane diagram is also good in helping me organize homework and class assignments that are due each week.

I would consider that the Swim Lane Diagrams is more beneficial than the Entity relationship. It divides a complicated process into small pieces and that’s the way it clarify the processing map. Business analysis clearly needs this kind of diagram to let everyone knows what they should do on their position. What’s more, the best part of Swim Lane diagram is that it is much more easier for us who has little experience about MIS to follow. But what I said does not means Entity relationship Diagram is not a perfect tool to understand the system. They are just standing for different things. When we need to know market data, ERD is perfect for us.

I saw a company uses swim lane diagrams before, so in my opinion, swim lane diagrams are more beneficial than ERDs. Swim lane diagram has actor like individual, department, or group, that are divided to what kind of job they should do so they won’t get confused of who is doing what. I feel like swim lane can be use for anything that need step to step process and it will make the organization/company runs much smoother.

I find swim lane diagrams to be more beneficial than the entity relationship diagram. Swim lane diagrams are easy to understand and shows you each individual or actor who helps detail a process. I believe that ERM is beneficial but it is the visual representation of broad data for a company. The swim lane gives more information in detail about each step involved in a process.

My summer job of landscaping could use this to better divide responsibilities between employees and just be better organizerd.

I thinking using the ERM diagram is more useful, for me since im a visually person. This diagram have many steps that describe all the process on a visual diagram.

I believe that the swim lane diagram is the most effective because their use lanes makes things easy to follow when looking at specific tasks that each “actor” does. The whole flow of the diagram makes it easy to follow. One way that I think I could start using a swim lane diagram today would be for looking at a sports team. You could use a swim lane diagram to explain the role of each coach, athlete, trainer, and manager to see how they all flow together.

I believe that the swim lane diagram is more beneficial when relating to processes. It is easy to follow and provides a lot of informative information that will allow almost anyone to complete a task. ERM are best for filing systems

I found a combination of 2 two facts very interesting. Even though we are teaching ahead of the curve by educating people for jobs that aren’t yet a reality, the possibility still exists that freshman year studies may be obsolete by the time junior year rolls around. I found this reality staggering, that in spite of our best efforts to stay on the forefront of technology, our advances are moving exponentially faster. The curve to stay ahead of is like trying to reach a distant horizon that seems to stay eternally well beyond the reach of our grasp.

I found really interesting the fact that information I really accessible to anyone. This is the first time in history in which it do not matter were you are in the world, you can search something with a click. On the other hand, being in the information age, we are really more richer in knowledge that any generation in the past, technology will have a strong influence in the future generations, therefore learning new skills and always looking to improve is essential, since if we do not we will have a hard time understanding and growing the the future.

I thought the fact that India and China have more honor kids than we (United States) have kids was a very interesting fact. Its crazy to think that we might one day be competing for jobs and various other things with these children from those countries and that they are already a step ahead of us in education. It really brings to light how important it is to keep pushing yourself with education.

I would say the most surprising fact is that a week’s worth of new york times contains more information than a person lived in 18 century would come across. The complexity of the world and the development of the world is much more rapid than before. Also, nowadays, the information in one week, which is contains in the New York Times, even exceeds a person’s life experience. That definitely shows how strong the ability to gather information and data we own today. Both technology and the velocity that world changes are faster than anyone’s imagination.

As the technology gets developed on and on, we live in the space that can be connected to all the people in the world. It means that everyone can get and access data/information they want by just one click. Each information is being counted and gathered through the technology without one’s permission. I think it is great for collecting, organizing, and generating data/information, however, it seems a little scary that one’s information is being transferred so easily to the world.

The most interesting fact to me is that YouTube is the largest search engine in the world. I actually use YouTube as a search engine now and the amount of information on the platform is incredible. I used YouTube to research complex accounting problems last semester, and I discovered that even with a specific question YouTube will have relevant information most of the time. There are many academic content creators that post high level information on YouTube for anyone to find. I knew YouTube could be used as a search engine but I did not know that it is the largest in world.

One interesting fact that stuck out to me was that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by the age of 38. To me, that is unbelievable. The rate in which people change jobs is crazy. Another fact that ties into finding a job is that we are preparing students now for jobs that don’t even exist yet. Preparing students for jobs and problems that don’t exist yet will make them prepared for when it does. Technology just keeps developing and we need to keep up with the changes and what it could possibility become later on.

The one fact I thought was the most interesting was that 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook. Facebook seems to be a double edge sword making it easy to connect to friends and stay in contact, however gives it incentive to cheating allowing for married individuals to conceal affairs through online social media and its direct messaging functions. I wonder whether or not those individuals who have linked up with those they have cheated with would have done so without Facebook. Technology allows for individuals to establish conversations that may not be possible in person because of the fear or rejection or embarrassment, instead online messaging softens conversations and these fears allowing for mutual comfortability and a more likelihood to establish relations that may not occur in person.

I believe the most startling fact in this video is that 100 billion searches are done on Google every month. This perfectly shows how reliant our society is today on technology. People use Google every day for directions, recipes, job searches, general information, and so much more. I never realized just how integral a part of our every day lives that Google plays. No matter where you go you see people on their phones searching google, playing games, going on facebook and not paying attention to the world around them. I try my hardest everyday to stay off of my phone for as much as possible but it is difficult with how accustom I have become to having the world of information in my palms.

There are two points that continue to hold my interest, after allowing some time to think about the video’s overall message. In fact, the two points are one-in-the-same, in that they both deal with the point that 25% of China’s population with the highest IQ, is greater than the total population of North America. With the other point being, India’s statistic of 28% of it’s populations highest IQ individuals outnumbering the population of our country. Not withstanding other factors, such as our own population growth and advancements, as well the standards of these two countries IQ standards; the prospect of a superior intelligent upper-echelon of another society outnumbering our society as a whole is daunting and challenging. It is daunting because of the fact that we as a society, I believe, will be eager to compete for the fear of losing our global-leader position. It is also challenging because of the various socio-economic challenges we are currently facing, as well as the continuing difficulties we seem to be having in the STEM subjects. The video as a whole is honestly not what capture my thinking, it is rather that simple statistic and it’s many implications.

85% of the video was interesting and some facts slightly disturbing, for example, the first mobile phone call took place in 1973, the same year I was born, and my children all thought that was SUPER LONG AGO.
I did find it interesting that the 25% of people in China who have the highest IQ’s are greater than the entire population of North America, which consists of 23 countries. So basically, there isn’t one person to be found in 23 countries that is smarter than the person who ranks the lowest in the 25th percentile of high IQ’s in China. I wonder is it because we tend to focus more on social media and new trends than putting the greater emphasis on education in ourselves and our children.

This was a very interesting video that provided a lot of information. The fact that for the first time in history there are four generations working side by side. The traditionalist, boomer, Gen X and millennial. This made me think of my place of employment and how the Gen X and Millennials often get upset with the operations of the traditionalist and boomer. Often I will hear a millennial state that a traditionalist needs to get up to date with technology, but after watching this video it is safe to say that with the way technology is growing the boomer and millennial will not be within the standard of technology for long.

The fact that we are preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet with technologies that don’t exist is very interesting but also exciting. As we move on there are new revolutionary ideas that bring up new jobs and yet somehow most people don’t have jobs that they can apply for. I think that by preparing students for future jobs is not only a way of expanding our knowledge as a species but also helps with people to actually find jobs and not be unemployed. If 30 years ago people were aware of such technologies existing today and if they could’ve been prepared by learning about it then there wouldn’t be as much unemployment and it would’ve in turn created more jobs in my opinion.

I thought it was very interesting that despite the total world population being 7.3 billion, there are only +3 billion using the internet. Granted that a portion of the total population is too young to begin using technologies yet, this number still seemed surprisingly low to me… so I thought I’d do some digging ;). According to an article from Digital Trends in September 2015, the “United Nations’ Broadband Commission estimates that 4.2 billion people, or three-fifths of the global population, do not have regular access to the Internet”. The limited access for much of this population is due to country specific regulations and censorship (up to and including complete banning of internet access). With so many countries banning or censoring internet access, I can only imagine the further capabilities and advancements in technologies we will experience as these bans begin to lift!

What I found interesting is that there are no longer secrets. Technology is now our way of living. Everything that we do is recorded and documented in “cyberspace”. Companies have been able to store our personal information which reaches companies or organizations all over the country. Where we live or what we eat is no longer a secret, just log on into any computer system or phone device and your favorite foods, clothes, or car will upload as an advertisement. Also, the fact that we will be using technology that have not yet been invented ponders me, simply because life is so unpredictable. A situation or crisis could occur without a moment’s notice and we, as a country, may not be prepared for it, but life goes on and I look forward to new inventions.

I found the availability of knowledge to not only be vast but incredibly easy to access. What amazed me the most was the ratio’s involving both China and India and how they have a multitude of honor students compared to the United states. Also, I found it interesting that there are four different generations amongst the workforce for the first time. Not really something I would have thought about. All around this video was incredibly insightful and definitely helped put technologies influence into perspective.

I found 2 facts very interesting. One of which being that China and India both have more honor roll kids that we have kids in North America, and a week worth of New York Times contains more information than a person in the 18th century was likely to come across. These facts tell me that even with the abundance of information that we can take in, there really is no competition when it comes to the job market including people from countries such as China and India. In order to even have a chance, we would have to be 3 steps ahead of the curve at all times. This entire video however was very interesting. It really showed how advancement in technology is rapidly changing society everyday.

The one fact i found to grab my attention most was that this is the first time in history were 4 different generations co-existed together, while also having each a different preferred way of communication. It brings to mind that technology has increased so drastically within the past few decades that we’ve gone from messaging someone within 1-2 weeks to 1-2 minutes. It only goes to show how much further we can go in even just our lifetime, and makes us wonder what will come next in the way of communicating with one another and bringing our world ever slightly closer together.

The video is short but taught me a lot information that I don’t know before. It was really surprised me that a week’s worth of New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in 18th century. Although I know that we are starting living in an age of big data, it still shocked me that there are 8 zettabytes of new unique new data created worldwide in 2015. I can’t even image how fast the world is changing as well as the new technologies are inventing every single day.

I found 2 most interesting facts after watching the video.One is how Facebook has over 1.55 billion active users monthly and if Facebook were a country, it will be the world’s largest. I can’t never imagine that many active users just in one social media, even larger than China population. The second interesting fact I found is how Candy Crush is still popular to this day with 7.6 million users per day and 225 million users per month. I thought Candy Crush is out of date but seeing that many users is surprising me.

The one fact that really resonated with me was the way the four different generations preferred communication methods (Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennial). It is evident in my relationships with co-workers and my parents. I work alongside my father (baby boomer) who prefers using the phone as a means of communication while protesting text messages. My mother would be considered a “silver surfer” who has abandoned certain baby boomer characteristics in favor of texting and has adapted to technology. The advancement in technology has showed how some older generations are able to easily adapt and some struggle to adapt. Given the rapid development of technology, it will be imperative for all generations to adapt our developing technology.

There are a few facts that are interesting to me, First, how far behind American children are from other countries. Although the other countries population is way more than America, the number of honor students is disturbingly small. Another interesting thing is that Facebook would be the largest country if it were a country, even though it’s only 12 years old. That is funny to me, yet I am not surprised. It is amazing that we are preparing students now for jobs and advancement in technologies that are currently not invented yet. Americans just need step up the game in education.

There were a few facts that I found interesting about the video. First was that 1 in 6 relationships today started on facebook and that a majority of relationships end in divorce also because of facebook. I thought this was interesting because there use to be a time when people enjoyed meeting others in public and getting to know a person by spending physical time with them. Now it seems that we are so used to technology that we can actually meet and fall in love with someone by just communicating online with them before actually meeting in person. Another fact I found interesting was the fact that technology is so rapidly improving that schools are teaching students skills needed to problem solve problems that are not even problems yet and preparing them for jobs that are not even created yet. This was interesting because it shows that technology is something that we have become so dependent on and that is changing everyday.

The most interesting fact that I saw in this video was about how large the populations of India and China are in comparison to North America. Along with the population size, the video also pointed out how advanced those two nations are from an educational standpoint by saying India and China have more “honors” students than we do total students. I think that it is important for the United States to advance in education along with nations like India and China.

I think it is very interesting that this is the first point in time that four generations: traditionalist, baby boomer, gen-x, and millennial, are working together side by side. I feel this would make firms and companies better decision makers as they have the view points of different-minded individuals, and each generation has strengths and weaknesses. While traditionalists may not seem well versed in modern technology, their life experience and knowledge of the world are very valuable assets.

I found many of the facts in this video very interesting, but one that really caught my eye was how advanced in education China and India are than the U.S. They have more honors students than the U.S. does with students in general. It’s amazing how these students are being prepared for jobs that don’t even exist yet. It is crucial for the U.S. to make some advances in eduction as compared to India and China. Also, It is crazy how much can change year after year and this video really shows how advanced modern day human beings are compared to past generations.

What I found most interesting about the video was the fact that, new technical information doubles every year. I know older engineers who say that their degrees from a decade ago are basically useless because they didn’t keep up with the changes in technology. The video mentioned that, half of what college students who are majoring in technical field learn during their first year will outdated by their third year. Technology is always changing so people in the technical field almost always have to continue their learning after college. People in the technical field can never really follow a fixed set of learnings and if they choose not to evolve with technology their degree will end up being useless in a matter of years.

What I found to be the most interesting fact within the video was the fact that today’s learners are being groomed to operate future technologies that have yet to be developed. I have two children who are almost at the age to begin school and it is very interesting to know that they will learn to use futuristic technologies and answer questions that are inconceivable at the present moment. However exciting this is to hear, this also begs the question of whether or not, as their father, that I will be able to keep up with them and aid them in their studies.

The theory that today’s learner will have held 10-14 jobs by the age 38 is interesting. I am 28 and have held a full-time job at four different companies. I enjoy my job but my goal is to further my career so there is the possibility that I will achieve at least 10 different jobs by the time I am 38. I feel that number is high which could show that businesses are unable to retain long term employees, or that people are changing with the technology by being replaced by more automated systems or people are furthering their careers through education and experience.

I actually found a lot of things interesting about this video that was filled with so many facts. It’s amazing at which rate we are growing in population and how technology is growing with us. Technology makes things spread so much quicker. The way Facebook is so popular and has so many users when Facebook didn’t come out that long ago but I feel like everyone has an account. Even my grandparents have learned how to use the computer and signed themselves up for a Facebook account. It is amazing at the rate we are progressing and also in the video it said we are teaching kids for jobs that haven’t been created yet and teaching them to resolve problems that haven’t occurred yet.

I found the fact that one weeks worth of New York Times contains more information than a person in the 18th century would come across in their lifetime. This just shows how dependent we are on instant news and connectivity to the world. Technology and information moves forward at such an astonishing rate that if people are not connected almost all the time they will be left behind.

Every fact presented in this video was interesting. However, I found the ‘1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook’ fact to be very strange and scary. As time goes on, social media use will only increase, I’m sure. I find it sad and alarming that it causes so many rifts in relationships to the point that it’s the blame for many divorces. Its a factor that did not exist years ago, but it’s become part of many peoples lifestyles.

Honestly, i found a number of facts to be very interesting when it came to data, however the idea that candy crush saga makes $830,000 per day and $230,000,000 pretty amazing. This video does a good job of jamming a large number of statistics into one brief video to give the viewers a quick realization of just how much things have changed in the last decade. Since technology is moving at such a rapid rate and we are now taking in and processing so much more information on a daily basis in comparison to old times, it isn’t that surprising to hear that some people are choosing to technically get a degree in a specific field whose jobs aren’t even available yet.

I found this video to be pretty interesting. I was surprised that on average people will go through 10-14 jobs by the age of 38, I pictured that number much lower. I also find it cool and surprising on how much technology is transforming and that there will be so many job openings for it, some that aren’t even around yet. So many parts of this video surprised me, like how many self driving cars we will have on the roads within 4 years. It is not surprising how much google is used though. It’s crazy to think that we are growing up in an era where technology is being revolutionized each and every day.

The video gives insights into the age we’re living in – the age of rapid technological growth. Technology influences us tremendously, in terms of communication, education, administration, etc. One piece of information that stands out to me when watching the clip was that there will be more new jobs that we’ve never thought of, and this completely changes the purpose of today’s education. Learners can no longer rely on educational system to prepare for the future; they have to prepare themselves and orient themselves to the right direction.

I found the YouTube video “Did You Know” to be very interesting and informative. I found the fact that the 25% of the population of China with the highest IQ’s is greater than the total population of North America. The statistic of the number of babies being born in the U.S, China and India was an interesting perspective and visual of the growing population. The evolution and changes in technology and society are very apparent and was demonstrated by the statistic of the top jobs in demand barley existed 10 years ago. I also found it interesting that they showed how things might be like in the future such as 10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020. Technology is a tool that most people use everyday and the video demonstrated different ways technology affects us everyday and will affect us in the future.

I thought this video was eye-opening in the myriad of different interesting facts it displayed. Most interesting for me, as a student who would like to pursue international marketing, was the rapid rate at which the population of India and China are growing. While still developing nations, they are sure to be two highly consequential economies in the next decades to come. I have an interest in e-commerce so large entities like Alibaba and other online platforms intrigue me. I can only imagine the vast stores of data that Alibaba holds and how valuable their big data really is! MIS must be crucial to these companies as millions of shoppers have access to their online stores daily.

What I found to be really intriguing is the preparation for the upcoming generations. Our society is literally training young minds to take over at a faster pace, broadening their minds to all types of possibilities, so that when the technology becomes available they have taste for it. A hunger for advancement and creation through a data driven society. Another important detail about this video is how the internet revolutionized communication, entertainment, and the social lifestyle for the whole world. Information is so easily available this day in age, and how it far surpasses the way information used to travel just 20 years ago.