Mary Ann Robbert

Offshore outsourcing: current conditions & diagnosis

2. ERNEST FERGUSON Shock waves still resonate after the widely cited 2002 Forrester Research report predicted at least 3.3 million white-collar jobs and

Trends in the evolution of the database curriculum

136 billion in wages are expected to shift overseas by 2015 [8]. The report predicts nearly 1 million IT-related jobs will move offshore over the course of the next 15 years [4]. For computer scientists between 2000 and 2001, the jobless rate jumped from 2% to 5% [8]. Programming and general software development is no longer a specialized or rare skill. IT unemployment has resulted in decreased computer science / information systems enrollments throughout the United States.

A cost-benefit analysis of an international dual degree programme

This paper focuses on the current database curriculum and how it reflects changes in the practice of data management. The content of the database course is determined using a series of three surveys given to groups of database educators over a period of four years. The results of these surveys are presented in the paper and are used to indicate trends in database courses as they are actually taught. The paper examines the different focus choices used in the introductory database course and describes how these have changed during the period, 1999-2002. The paper also examines how actual database curricula compare with the CC2001 curriculum recommendations.

Enhancing the value of a project in the database course

This paper provides a cost benefit analysis of undergraduate and graduate international dual degree programmes, which are relatively new and innovative educational approaches to preparing students to succeed in a contemporary international arena. A comparative model of international educational and experiential systems is offered and examples of two-way and one-way dual degree models are investigated. We conclude that international dual degree models are significantly superior in terms of academic, intellectual and experiential learning; therefore, graduates of these programmes will be better prepared to lead international ventures and serve as global citizens. Dual degree programmes require an institution-wide commitment to succeed in the short and long term. Academic institutions need to be flexible, creative, resourceful and forward thinking in order to successfully adopt and implement dual degree offerings. Most students who choose such programmes are positive risk takers and high achievers. Like any new and innovative initiative, the international dual degree offering has its own learning curve and constraints but offers the potential for a great outcome.

The database course (panel session): what must be taught

Data management is a crucial issue for the new millennium. A database course can reflect current issues and new technologies plus teach the basic concepts through the use of a multiple component project and reflection. This paper describes a methodology to expose students to the dynamics of a database environment and teach them to tract theoretical principles from their experiences.

The Cambridge Container Company: managing customer-centric information integration

In the ever expanding universe of database skills and knowledge we propose a framework that can be used to classify advanced database topics. We use the framework to present five advanced database modules that can be successfully incorporated in an advanced database course. These modules were built to illustrate advanced topics and were tested and refined in advanced database courses over several semesters. The skills demonstrated in the modules go beyond what is typically taught in an the introductory level database course but are important in today’s highly demanding business environment.

Developing the cooperative mission development environment

Abstract This case illustrates the efforts of the Cambridge Container Company, a fictitious manufacturer of plastic containers, as they consider methods for moving organizational decision-making toward a more customer-centric focus. Cambridge has four independent manufacturing units, each of which currently bases all operational decisions on internally generated cost and profitability information. 1 In 2000, Cambridge established a special enterprise level division to consider best practices for collecting qualitative product and service feedback from customers and to subsequently consider how to best integrate such nontraditional, nonfinancial information into their own operational decision models. This realistic scenario gives students an opportunity to consider the financial and managerial implications of moving to customer-centric operational decision-making. Business articles on the advantages of customer centricity abound, but few sources consider the financial and managerial consequences beyond increased customer loyalty and satisfaction. In actuality, this current business trend requires significant reengineering of information systems and management practices. Consequently, accounting methods must be re-evaluated for accuracy and fit with new systems and management practices. At the heart of this case is an opportunity for students to consider the appropriate balance of traditional financial and customer-driven nonfinancial information in management decision models for optimal profitability of the company and its individual units. In addition, the instructor can delve into a number of internal control and political issues related to information sharing. There is also opportunity for students to consider at a high level the complexities of balancing open information sharing and information security. Several alternative questions and suggested solutions are provided for the instructor at the end of the case. We suggest that instructors select only three or four of the questions so students can spend more time on each selected issue. This case is adaptable for use in managerial accounting, accounting systems or management systems courses at the undergraduate or graduate levels.

Graphical tools for assessing information quality: loan application decisions

The Cooperative Mission Development Environment (CMDE) was developed to unite independent applications and databases into a cooperating tool set capable of sharing data. As missions developed standalone tools to meet immediate needs and to automate paper functions, a proliferation of development and automation tools came into existence. It soon became apparent that data in one tool could be used by another tool and a significant improvement in productivity could be obtained by combining the tools and sharing the data between them. This paper examines: how the independent systems arose, why the need developed to integrate the independent systems, the integration approaches considered, the process used for integration, how coordination between tool developers was handled, challenges faced during integration, plus current challenges, and future plans.

Comparison of object oriented architectures for knowledge base management systems

Using a loan application data set, this paper demonstrates the use of several graphical tools to assess information quality: histograms to study individual variables, scatter plots to compare original and cleaned variables as well as to examine the effects that cleaning a particular predictor has on models of a decision, decision trees to identify important predictors of a decision, and ROC curves to evaluate the predictive value of each attribute. Proposed techniques for cleaning a data set include eliminating erroneous records, excluding attributes with too many incorrect values from the model and applying domain knowledge. We suggest that our approach can be applied to a small sample of a data set to help prioritise which variables should be cleaned.

The next decade of the database course: three decades speak to the next

A number of critical aspects of system architectures are investigated to determine their suitability for handling knowledge base management systems (KBMS). The architectures considered are the iAPX 432, a highly integrated object-based microprocessor system; the IBM System/38, a tagged capability system; and the connection machine, a computer architecture based on cellular automata. The inherent capabilities of each for realizing information bases on physical machines are evaluated.<<ETX>>